Bully
by Cookey Monsta
Summary: (Now an in-progress story) She always had those moment of Deja-Vu whenever she was around Sheldon, like she knew him from far back into the past though she couldn't place her finger on it.
1. Deja Vu

**_I got this idea while sitting up and watching the "Big Bang Theory" on late-night TBS. Since I love Sheldon x Penny, I absolutely had to write this down! It's my first fanfiction for the "Big Bang Theory, so it's only a one-shot!_**

**_I hope you enjoy!_**

**_*Insert Disclaimer*_**

Chapter One: Deja Vu

Sometimes, Penny got an extreme sense of Deja Vu around Sheldon Cooper- like she had seen him somewhere else before. Not as in "I might have caught glimpse at him at the local market" kind of somewhere else, for one- Sheldon didn't drive anywhere and she did most of his shopping in the first place and two, it was a kind of distant-past that was so far off it was blurry.

But normally, she dismissed it.

Though, today it was more than normally weighing heavily on her mind.

Sheldon sat on his side of the couch, eating his noodles from the same place they always ate at. His fingers clutched the chop-sticks, eating the noodles in silence. He was concentrating on getting the noodles into his mouth and chewing it a specific thirty-three times, as he always did.

Penny drummed her fingers on the white, run-down, lap top sitting in her lap. Everyone else had gone out to a bar. They had invited Sheldon but naturally, he refused to partake in such "chivalry that is consuming alcohol", adding, "I hope you know that by the young age of thirty all of your livers will have already slowly detierierated into nothing".

Of course, they just shook their head and ignored his comments on their unhealthy consumption of alcohol and how they should be tucked into their beds, because they had to work the next day.

In all honesty, Penny didn't know why she was here. There was just... something that was weighing heavy on her mind.

Sheldon looked up at her, slowly chewing his food. Sighing, he swallowed and set down his chopsticks and Chinese take-out box neatly down onto the coffee table, as he had always been a stickler for perfection and balance.

"Is there something that you are wanting, Penny? I would think that at some point you would tire of eating our food and freeloading off of our internet and go home" He said.

Penny rolled her eyes at this comment. By now, she had become accustomed to his snarky and rude remarks. In fact, if he didn't make a snarky remark then she would immediately assume that something was wrong, or she was ill.

"No, Sheldon, I just... am thinking" She replied, her head throbbing. She had to have known him from somewhere before she met him when she moved in across the hall from them. Think Penny! Think!

"Wouldn't you enjoy your thinking process much more if you were in the comfort of your own room?" He asked her, his hands resting on his knees like they usually did.

She rolled her eyes again.

"If you keep rolling your eyes, Penny, they might just tire and roll straight out of their eye sockets"

"Ha. Very funny, Sheldon"

"Funny? How could you think that funny? I would think that it would be very painful to have your eyeballs roll out from your sockets, wouldn't you? I mean, that was if they were still attached to-"

"I get it, Sheldon" She interrupted with a snap.

He fell silent, shifting in his spot awkwardly.

"Someone woke up on the wrong side of Lenard's bed today" He commented.

"Sheldon!"

"I'm merely stating the facts, Penny"

She rolled her eyes again, tapping her index finger against the side of her forehead.

"Hey, Sheldon?" She asked, her voice quieter than usual.

"What is it, Penny?"

"Do I know you from somewhere?"

"Well, I would hope so. We see each other on a daily basis" Sheldon said, shifting again. What was she getting at?

"No, not from now! I mean, have we met before the first time I moved in?"

**_Flashback:_**

_He drew a picture of the famous "Flash" symbol in the dirt with his stick. None of the other kids enjoyed playing what he enjoyed playing. While they enjoyed rough-housing and stuffing their faces with dirt and any insect that they could get their hands on, he enjoyed reading from books about space, or comic books. His favorite comic book was "The Flash". There was something about a man running at that fast of a speed that just intrigued him._

_He was different._

_So naturally, they made fun of him for that._

_It used to get to him, at first. But soon enough his emotions had dulled enough to the point that he didn't even care whether or not his own mother loved him or not. It was the side-effect of their taunting and teasing, a defense mechanism, if you will. If he couldn't feel, then he couldn't hurt. Right?_

_Of course, though, there were some times that he would get lonely- or the words they taunted him with were harsh enough to get under his skin._

_"Hey, loser" _

_A kid prodded at the little boy with the slicked-back brown hair with the tip of his toe._

_He didn't reply, just continued to finish drawing the symbol of the flash in the dirt. He was always a perfectionist. Everything had to be neat and in shape. His therapist said it was part of the anxiety issues that came with the aftermath of the bullying. He just figured it was because he liked seeing everything nice, neat and perfect._

_"Hey loser, hey nerd, hey what are you drawing, nerd? Drawing a stupid picture again? What is it- the green booger or something?" The kid asked, a few of his short midget followers circling near him._

_"For one, it's not the green booger- it's the Green Lantern. And for two... I am drawing the symbol of The Flash, not the Green Lantern" He replied quietly._

_"Whatever. Only nerds care!" He spat, spitting on the ground near him and kicking up the dirt, laughing sadistically._

_"Hey!" The little boy in the flash shirt cried, swatting at their shoes and trying to get them to stop. _

_The others had joined in by now, kicking at the dirt and causing the particles to fly into the air. He choked on the particles slightly, trying to wave it from his face and coughing. What a wonderful time for his asthma to start acting up. The boy stumbled for his inhaler inside his pocket, clasping it in his hands._

_"Hey,what's this" One boy piped up, snatching the inhaler from his hands._

_"That's my inhaler" The kid replied with a cough. It was red, and his mother and twin sister had taken the liberty to paint a golden lightning bolt on it the front upon his request. _

_"Oh- Inhaler? Can't breath without it can ya?" The other boy asked, clenching it in his hands._

_"I shouldn't need it for much longer, just until my lungs develop fully" Answered the smallest boy, sitting in the dirt coughing._

_The group of boys looked at each other, smirking. All at once, his inhaler dropped and multiple feet were stomping on it, smashing it into little red and gold pieces._

_Dust particles flew around in the air, clogging up his breathing tube and causing him to go into another coughing fit._

_"Hey, losers!" Another, much higher voice called._

_The group of boys turned to face a blonde girl with short hair that was pulled out of her eyes by a headband. _

_"Who are yooou?" The ring leader sneered, "And what do you want?"_

_"I just moved to Texas! Now leave him alone!"_

_"No way we're listening to a girrrl! Go play with your makeup!"_

_It was all too quick, her fists balling into dainty-looking balls and cocking back. She sucker-punched the first one in the face, kneeing him in the stomach. He let out a cry and dropped to his knees. _

_"Ow! You hit me!"_

_"You bet your ass I did!"_

_"Ooo! She cussed! I'm telling!"_

_"You tell and I'll take this fist and shove it into your throat!" She said, showing them a balled fist, "Now beat it!"_

_They all disbanded, rushing away in different directions, leaving the girl, the boy and the busted-up inhaler._

_The boy looked up at her a little feebly, his eyes rushing back down to his broken inhaler. She leaned over and began to pick up the pieces, placing them into her small and delicate, young, hands._

_"What are you doing?" He asked as he looked over to her, bewildered with her actions._

_"Pickin them up for ya!" She snapped, holding out her hand which had busted up little pieces of inhaler in it._

_"But it's busted"_

_"And?"_

_He starred at her open palm then grabbed the inhaler quickly from her hands, stuffing it in his pants pockets._

_"Thank you..." He said quietly, it was the first time that he had thanked someone._

_"No problem!" She shot him a cheeky grin, "I'm Penelope, but my mommy calls me Penny so you can too!"_

_"I see"_

_"And you?"_

_"What?"  
_

_"Well! What's your name boy?!" She demanded, starring down at him._

_"My name is Sheldon..." He replied quietly._

_Her open hand was still held out toward the boy._

_"You may fold your hand back now. I have taken my inhaler..."_

_"You're not just gonna sit in the dirt all day, are you Sheldon?" She asked, shaking her hand with a childish exasperation._

_It took him a while to understand what she meant. Reaching his hand feebly out, he grabbed hers. She pulled him off the ground and out of the dirt with a graceful ease._

_"You're skinny" She grinned, "But that's okay!"  
_

_"Thank you?..." He replied, now standing slightly taller than her._

_"Well, we haven't got all day for recess! Lets go!" She beamed, grabbing his hand again and dragging him off to the play equipment, "You can be my friend!"_

_That was the first time he had a friend._

_She moved no later than a year later._

**_Flashback End_**

Sheldon faked an odd look, starring at the blonde girl who was starring intently at him,

"No, I have not been made aware that we had met any time in the past" He lied, starring her in the eyes, "Perhaps you have been drinking"

She rolled her eyes for the millionth time,

"Whatever, I'm going to my apartment" She said, standing up and hauling her laptop under her arm.

"Thank goodness, I thought I was going to have to ask you myself for you to return home"

"You're horrible, Sheldon" Penny said, heaving a sigh.

She made her way to the door, the physicist following at her heels. Opening the door, she walked out and across the hall to her apartment complex and fiddled with her keys.

"Hey, Penny?"

She looked over her shoulder, momentarily ceasing her fiddling with her cheap keys.

"Yes, Sheldon?"

"Thank You" He thanked her for the second time in his life.

And with that, he closed his door and went to finish his noodles, leaving a very bewildered and baffled Penny starring at the door of the know-it-all physicist's apartment, wondering what had gotten into him.


	2. Something I Can't Quite Put My Finger On

Chapter Two: Something I can't quite place my finger on

Penny tapped her finger to her chin, her elbow propped up on her counter as she was in deep thought. Her house was a wreck, as always. But that didn't bother her. Usually, if Sheldon came by and was completely irked by it, she'd get free housekeeping. Of course, that would be thrown out the window all in the next couple of weeks.

She couldn't remember anyone further back than sixth grade. All of the people who she did remember wouldn't want to see her. Simply put, she was cruel whenever she hit middle school. The want and need to feel accepted somewhere outside of her home was great, and she did anything to get noticed. Even if that meant pushing around people who were much more sensitive than she was.

She sighed, remembering all the people she pushed around and wanting to take it all back.

She didn't know what she was doing, not really. They all coaxed her into thinking that they were playful jokes, jokes that they promised the victim would laugh at once they knew what had happened.

And she believed them.

But, whether or not she knew what she was doing was wrong didn't matter. It still happened. Sometimes, she wondered if the reason she turned out like this was because she was finally reaping what she had sewed. She ran a hand through her thick hair, giving yet another sigh.

Her memory was clouded, she couldn't remember what she wanted to remember! This made her frustrated and in turn, her frustration made her easily irritated, her fuse quick to be lit, any metaphor that could explain how short-tempered she was feeling.

Standing up, she moved to her cabinet- the one where all her liquor and alcohol was stored in. A shot of whiskey sure wouldn't bring back the memories, but perhaps they would ease the pain of guilt and keep her fuse from lighting at the smallest things.

Reaching on her tip-toes, she opened her cabinet and pulled down a slender class bottle and a special shot glass that an ex had gotten her. Hey, just because you break up with someone doesn't mean you can't keep the nice stuff. That was her logic, at least.

Popping open the bottle, she tilted it slightly and let the liquid flow into the shining glass.

Setting down the bottle, she went to grab the shot glass and...

_Knock Knock_

From the crisp two, and not three, knocks that rasped against the door, Penny could easily use deduction to conclude that the visitor wasn't Sheldon. Sheldon always knocked three times, spoke the inhabitants name and then repeated the cycle until the door was open.

"Yeah, hold on I'm comin!" She hollered, quickly picking up the shot glass and downing it. She briskly put up her bottle of alcohol and half jogged to the door, stepping over the mess and being sure not to trip over anything that she had left out and was too lazy to pick up. Kicking past outdated newspapers, she shoved through the junk and made it to the door and opened it.

"Hey Lenard" She said, sounding rather relaxed as she leaned against the door, "Anything you need sugar?"

He fidgeted when she called him sugar, a barely noticeable blush on his cheeks. She inwardly sighed. Penny didn't mean anything intimate in calling him sugar, it was something she called everyone by force of habit. You would think that by now he would have known this.

"Well- Uh, I, actually," He flashed an awkward grin at her and rubbed the back of his head, "The guys and I are watching movies tonight and we were just wondering if you'd like to join in on it" He offered, gripping his hands momentarily behind his back, his oversized green jacket wrinkling slightly as he did so, then returning back to it's normal state as he unclasped his hands from behind him and then clasped them together in front of him, shifting from the balls of his feet to his heels.

It was quite obvious he had a crush.

But her work schedule didn't always warrant for all of the crushes that guys, including Lenard's, had on her. She had bills to pay, and she really liked showering with hot water. Or any water at all.

"You know I would love to Lenard, but I'm on the night shifts at the Cheesecake Factory..." She replied, an apologetic look on her face as she crossed her arms over her chest. This was a nice way of her saying that she really wasn't in the mood to hang out. As much as she loved them to death, they were already too much to handle when she was in a normal mood. If she hung around them with a short fuse then something bad was bound to happen.

"Oh, well that's okay! We can come to the Cheesecake Factory tonight then!"

Sometimes Lenard was oblivious to hints. But that was just Lenard in a nutshell.

"Well, it's supposed to be a busy-"

"Excuse me, the Cheesecake Factory? On a Friday? What kind of insane pastime are you trying to suggest?" Said the voice belonging to a familiar scientist.

Penny's eyes skidded up to meet the eyes the belonged to Sheldon Cooper himself, who had taken the liberty to stop everything he was doing to come outside and discuss the stupidity of going to the Cheesecake Factory on a Friday.

"What do you mean by that Sheldon?" Lenard asked, rather irritated.

"You said we could go to the Cheesecake Factory on a Friday. One does not simply go to the Cheesecake Factory on a Friday. Visits to the Cheesecake Factory are reserved only for Tuesdays and special events such as birthdays, Christmas, Hannukah and funerals. Besides, every Friday night is sci-fi movie night. We're supposed to be watching the original Godzilla tonight" Sheldon lectured his roommate mercilessly.

"It's okay to change plans once in a while, Sheldon"

Sheldon gave Lenard a look of shock and disgust, causing Lenard to heave a sigh and roll his eyes.

"Okay to change plans? Okay to change plans? If you refer to Article Twenty Seven section Four of our roommate agreement plan, you will find that it clearly states that no dates can be changed unless notification is given a week or more prior to the upcoming event. The only exceptions to this is unexpected family emergencies and hospitilization and that is it, Lenard. I can't go throwing my carefully-written rules into the wind simply because you want to find some reason to see your female companion, who, need I remind you, you have been interested in for quite some time"

"Sheldon!" Lenard groaned, giving a slight hop with his shoulders.

"Don't Sheldon me! It's not like it isn't obvious, what with you flaunting your emotions around for the entire world to see. You might as well wear a shirt that says 'I'm in love with Penny, the freeloader who lives across the hall'" Sheldon replied.

"What's wrong with you, Sheldon?" Penny now piped, annoyed with the insult.

"Oh, don't act like it's not true. You always eat our food and piggyback ride on our wireless internet" He quipped, not betraying one emotion at all other than that of superiority to them.

"Enough with it already!" Lenard snapped, agitated.

"You know Sheldon, you remind me of someone I used to know" Penny said without thinking much to what she said, only that he was similar to someone she felt that she used to be close to.

Sheldon seemed to hesitated for a moment, opening then closing his mouth before finally saying,

"Well, I suppose I shall see you at the Cheesecake Factory tonight, despite the fact that we had previously had prior engagements planned" His voice was nearly cold, like ice even.

And with that, he walked back into his apartment without another word or insult.

"What brought on his sudden mood change?" Penny wondered, her gaze shifting back to Lenard.

Lenard looked over his shoulder to where the door was shut closed and shrugged, glad that Sheldon had finally decided to leave him alone and go do something else. It was like a miracle to Lenard.

"I don't know, he's just weird like that" He said, clapping his hands together in front of him for the second time, "But I'll see you tonight"

"Yeah... see ya..." She replied, closing her own door. Even more baffled then before.


	3. The Difference of Infatuation and Love

Chapter Three: The Difference between infatuation and love

Lenard couldn't help but feel a little bit suspicious about his friend's actions. He had never acted that cold. Unless, of course, you touched one of his action figures or contradicted one of his theories. But other than that, he usually quipped, but was never extremely cold.

"What's gotten over you, Sheldon?" Lenard asked as he walked in through his home, securing the door closed behind him.

"What ever do you mean by that, Lenard?" Sheldon asked, starring intently at his computer. He was stuck on equation that he thought would more or less change the world. Of course, it was how to surpass the speed of light and that was proving to be a very difficult equation, wasn't it.

"You just up and agreed to break schedule" Lenard said, raising his arm to the door as though he were motioning to the past and then let it drop heavily down at his side, "You never just easily agree to that"

Sheldon looked over to his roommate and friend, his hands moving from the keyboard of the computer to his knees, where they always sat whenever he was about to give a lecture.

"Lenard" He said, drawing out his name and adding stress onto the syllables, "It was you who said I needed to exersize change, wasn't it? Well, I merely took what you said into a momentary consideration and decided that it would be wise to do so"

Lenard gave him an odd look, not moving from his spot.

"You never take what others say into consideration"

"That's incorrect, as a physicist I am constantly taking what others say into consideration, I just discard most of them because they are irrelevant and stupid" He replied, swiveling his chair back to face his computer and starring at the lit screen. He had long since ceased receiving headaches from starring at the computer monitor, since he did it so often.

"Oh... well, anyways, I'm going to go get ready for dinner" Lenard said, heading toward the short hallway that was in their apartment.

"Lenard" Sheldon stated again, not looking up from his computer.

"What do you want, Sheldon?" He asked, rather annoyed. He just wanted to go get ready and go eat, spend time with someone he was interested in, you know- what most guys liked to do.

"What has you infatuated with Penny?" He asked, his fingers typing away on the computer.

For a moment, all that could be heard in the room was the quick pressing of Sheldon's fingers against the keyboard.

"Why does it matter to you?"

"Oh, it doesn't matter to me. I'm just doing a personal study on to what makes a man notice a woman, what has him interested in her. I think I might turn it into one of those silly magazines just to see my name in a magazine" Sheldon stated.

Lenard rubbed the back of his head.

"Well, uh, she's pretty and-" After that, he couldn't really think of why else he was interested in her.

"I am aware that Penny is what society considers to be attractive, Lenard, but you've been her friend for nearly two years now. What makes you interested in her?" He asked, looking over to him slightly.

"Well- uhm, she's pretty..."

"And what else, Lenard?"

"And I love her..."

"How can you say that you love her if you only speak to her in interest of being granted sexual favors?"

"Sheldon!"

"Lenard"

"That's not true and you know it!" Lenard retorted angrily, rather stricken by his roommate's and so-called-friend's words.

"Well, if I am correct, from what I read about, love is something more than a grade-school crush, yes? And I am quite certain that love is more than like, I mean the two words have different meanings. To like someone is to have meteocure romantic feelings toward a woman, yes? If you were in love with Penny, then you should be able to name the reasons why you like her as simply a human being, and not another one of those, as you call it, one-night stands you easily pick up at a bar" He retorted back.

"It's none of your buisness anyways, Sheldon! Stay out of it!" Lenard snapped, "Penny and I have a great connection, we just need to get to know each other better!"

Sheldon heaved an irritated sigh,

"You've known her for two years, Lenard, if time itself won't bring you together then I'm not sure there's much that will"

Lenard gave an irritated huff, storming into his room. He'd show him what a great connection that they had! He was sure of that much! But why was Sheldon so interested in his affairs suddenly? He shoved that thought aside. It was probably Sheldon trying to, for once, be a good friend and offer friendly advice in the awkward and intrusive way that he did. Though, Lenard got a feeling that the reason was probably far from him trying to be a good friend toward him...

He almost slammed his door shut in a fit of anger and frustration, leaving Sheldon to silently work on his project alone. Once he grew bored of trying to hack this equation, he saved his work and shut down the program, pulling up the internet.

Oh, he had nearly forgotten. Today was the anniversary of Martin Luther King Jr's _I have a Dream _speech. His mouse cursor rolled over the word dream, pausing there momentarily.

**_Flashback:_**

_She sat cross-legged in the sandbox, watching him draw more icons of famous superheros in the sand. He was quiet, and other than the cough she would sometimes give, there was no other sound. Making friends with the outcast had stunted her popularity growth, nobody wanted to hang around a girl who was friends with that weird kid nobody liked._

_She didn't mind, though. He was interesting, and not like the other kids. He kept her fascinated, always learning something new- even if it was useless information- everyday, things that she would go home and tell her mom about._

_"What's your dream, Sheldon?" She asked, breaking the silence that had lingered over him._

_"Well, I want to be a physicist, of course" He replied as though he were completely sure of himself._

_"I didn't ask you what you wanted to be, silly, I asked you what you dream of" She replied._

_He starred, giving her a quizzical look. People never asked what he dreamed of, only what he wanted to be when he grew up. That, of course, was because it was part of the ciricculum that they were teaching, not because they were actually interested in what he was interested in._

_"Well, sometimes I dream that I am on board with Mr. Spock, if that's what you mean" He replied, slightly confused. Why was she interested in what he dreamed of? That was... odd._

_She burst out into a fit of giggles and he gave her a horrified look. Was she teasing him?! That made her just like everyone else!_

_"What are you laughing at?!" And he thought she was something special._

_"You!"_

_He let his shoulders slump a bit. Just when he thought he had a real friend..._

_"Of course" He mumbled._

_"Not you, you. I mean, I'm not laughing at you"_

_"You just said you were"_

_"I mean, you don't get what I'm trying to say. You're silly. I asked you what your dream is, what you dream of, what you want more than anything in the world. I didn't ask what you wanted to be when you grew up. Like, Mommy said she got her dream, of being with the man she loved. That's what she wanted more than anything in the world. What do you want mostest, over everything that money gets, in the world?"_

_He paused. Nobody had ever asked him that in his entire life._

_"I suppose I would want to find out how to find out how to run faster than the speed of light so I could be The Flash" he answered, "What do you want"_

_She grinned cheekily,_

_"I want to be able to do this every day with you for the rest of my life!" She grinned, leaning back on her hands._

_He blinked,_

_"That's impossible. Nobody likes to be around me..."_

_"Well I like being around you so get used to it!" She said with a can-do attitude and swinging her fist like a sailor._

_He gave a ghost of a smile and continued to draw in the dirt._

**_Flashback End_**

"I'm ready, Sheldon, are you coming?" Lenard asked, finally cooled down as he walked out of his room, past the coffee table and to the front door. Sheldon exited the web-browser, properly shutting down his computer.

"Yes, I suppose I will" He said, standing up and following his friend.


	4. The Cheesecake Factory

Chapter Four: The Cheesecake Factory

Sheldon seated himself in his normal place, as always, Lenard in front of him and Raj and Howard face to face with each other on the other end.

"I'm completely surprised the Sheldon was willing to come along" Howard said after finishing a long and awkward sentence about how to successfully pick up an attractive woman at the bar.

"Lenard said that I needed to practice abrupt changes in my schedule. I don't know how that will benefit me but he seems adamant about it. Well, ever since Penny moved in across the hall he has" Sheldon commented.

Lenard rolled his eyes. What a typical comment from Sheldon.

"Well, if you have a chance at sex then you take it!" Howard grinned from ear to ear, leaning forward on the table. A few of the women sent him disgusted looks from behind, mortified at what he just said.

"Howard's right," Raj added, taking a sip of water, "Especially if you're like him and you don't get laid a lot"

The women snickered, giving Raj a small smile before winking. Raj smiled slightly and diverted his eyes, shyly looking at his glass. He always had trouble talking to women, even though he had the potential to be charismatic.

"You treat women like they're human beings" Sheldon stated sarcastically, not bothering to pick up the menu on the table. He already knew what he was going to order, leaving his three companions at the table rather shocked that he had said something of the sort.

Penny adjusted her skirt. Her head was throbbing and no amount of over-the-counter medication was going to help it stop throbbing. She was trying to remember someone from far off, but she couldn't! Her fuse had been lit three times when customers said something even slightly off. Oh, well, at least she could handle her four regular customers. They didn't mind if she shot of. Sheldon usually came back with some quip. They're bantering was normal, fun even.

She walked out into the restaurant, her hair pulled back into a neat ponytail as she flipped open her small notepad.

"I assume water for Sheldon, Dr. Pepper for Lenard, a refill of water for Raj and any form of alcoholic beverage for Howard" She said, that last comment about Howard more or less of a joke.

"You know it" Howard joked, leaning forward slightly with a sly smirk on his face, "And while I'm at it, can I have a tall glass of-"

"No" Penny interrupted before he could use any of his stupid pickup lines on her.

Howard sat back in his seat, slightly defeated.

"It was worth a try" He added.

"No it wasn't" Penny shot back.

"You're right, it wasn't" He agreed with her, fearing that if he pushed it any further he might get punched in the throat.

Raj looked over to Penny then Howard, pulling Howard over the table and whispering something into his ear. Howard nodded and looked up at Penny,

"Raj wants to know the specials of the day"

"Sure can do sugar" She said, "Our specials today is a cheeseburger, ten percent off" She answered the question for her.

"Ooh Lenard, cheeseburgers are ten percent off. I didn't think that your haenus idea would have anything that I could merit from but I have been proven incorrect" Sheldon said.

"See Sheldon? Good things come out of change" His eyes flicked up to Penny as if he was suggesting something and she quickly looked away.

"Oh yes, Lenard, what a wonderful connection you have" Sheldon said, folding his hands together on the table.

"Shut up, Sheldon!"

Penny didn't bother to ask what they were talking about. She knew. In fact, everyone at the table knew. Penny just blew it off like she didn't know, always trying to avoid the bad situation of confrontation.

"So, is it safe to say you all want the same as what you usually get?" Penny asked, shaking the notepad up and down lightly as she waited for an answer.

"I would assume since that is what we do all the time, that it would be safe to assume so" Sheldon quipped.

Penny rolled her eyes,

"I was just making sure so you wouldn't throw a temper tantrum about not wanting to eat cheeseburgers on a Friday"

"Penny, it is not a matter of what I want to eat. It is a matter of what I have to eat. Whenever I come to the Cheesecake Factory I always have a cheeseburger with a side of fries. Simply because it is a Friday doesn't mean we can throw the rules of the Cheesecake Factory into the wind with reckless abandon. You should know this by now"

"Whatever Sheldon" Penny huffed, writing down the orders and heading off to the kitchen once more.

On the way there, she had gotten a few whistles from some men, but as a waitress she chose to ignore them. She wasn't working that block anyways so it didn't matter to her.

"I just hate when men treat her like she's easy to get" Lenard said, his chin resting on his chin as he played with the straw in his water as though he were completely innocent.

"Oh please, half of the time you're around Penny you look at her desperately like you wish you could get in her pants" Howard said, a small smirk on his face.

"That is not true!"

"Howard has a point" Raj said, "You don't even really know her as well as you think"

"I do know her!" Lenard retorted.

"What's her favorite color?" Howard asked him, a smug look on his face.

"That's easy, red. She wears it all the time" He answered easily.

_Actually, Lenard, it's pink. She wears red to catch men's attention, but her favorite color is in fact pink._

"What's her favorite food?"

_Bacon Cheeseburger_

"Finger sandwitches"

"Favorite movie?"

"Thirty-Seven Dresses"

_Ammetyville Horror_

"Favorite Book"

"Twilight"

_Carrie by Stephen King. She doesn't read a lot but she really likes horror books. Stephen King is her favorite._

"Favorite pastime?"

"Watching Movies"

_Drinking Alcohol_

Lenard got every single one of the questions wrong, not knowing that Sheldon was mentally answering every single one.

"Here babes, I got your food" Penny said, coming back with a tray of food on a platter.

"Thanks Penny" Lenard grinned up at her as she set down the food in front of him.

Sheldon picked at his food, making sure that everything was in place. And it was. She knew what he liked.


	5. Late Night Thoughts

**_I was informed that I was spelling Leonard wrong, so I shall begin to spell it correctly!  
Also, thank you for the follows and the favorites! It makes me really excited to continue to write this!_**

Chapter Five:

Sheldon slunk into his room after they came home from dinner, closing and locking the door behind him. Sheldon Cooper enjoyed his privacy more than most things in the world.

"I'm going to bed, Sheldon" Leonard called from the other side of the wall.

"No need to tell me Leonard" Sheldon returned, sitting on the edge of his bed.

He wasn't tired, he was far from it. It would probably be a long time before he would actually feel the pressing need to sleep, due to everything that was deciding to come back to him.

He looked over to his shelf, where all of his action figures- not dolls, mind you- were setting neatly in their places. He wasn't even in the mood to pull down one of his action figures and mess with it.

Sighing, he moved over to the end table next to his bed and opened the drawer, pulling out a small piece of plastic on an old-worn down string. Leaning back on the head of his bed, he fiddled with the plastic in his fingers.

On the front of the shattered red piece of plastic was painted a gold flash symbol. The string was worn down, barely hanging together by it's threads. He sighed and twiddled it with it between his fingers. He never bothered to fix the string, that would be change and, again, Sheldon didn't enjoy change at all.

He could feel a wash of flashbacks coming to his mind, one in paticular pertaining to the piece of plastic that he held in between his fingers. He pressed that memory to the back of his mind, not wanting to remember anything from the past at the current moment.

Sighing, he placed the piece of plastic back into the compartment inside of his end table.

He changed into his pajamas, which was simply long-legged red pajama pants along with the same colored long-armed pajama shirt. He pulled back his covers and got under them, turning off the lamp on the end table.

He lay on his back, eyes wide open. Rolling on his side, he closed his eyes only to open them again.

He began to shift in his bed uncomfortably, trying to find a nice place to sleep. Unfortunately, it wouldn't help with his sleeping issue. Looking around the dark room, his eyes already adjusted to the darkness of the room.

What if Penny remembered? That would be simply awful, he thought, if she did. It would pick him apart to the very core and he would look weak and pathetic in front of her. He was a scientist for goodness sakes! He couldn't be weak and vunerable in front of her, it would make him unintelligent in front of her. That couldn't happen.

Sighing, he sat up swung his legs over the bed and sat there for a moment, thinking. Maybe he could just go work on physiology or build an atom out of simply toothpicks or something.

He shuffled to the livingroom, looking around. Leonard had already gone off to bed, he liked to get to bed at nine so he could get to work without being tired in the morning.

Though, he wasn't really in the mood to do anything at all. Which to him, was quite surprising. Usually he would jump on the oppurtunity to solve a scientific mystery.

Shuffling out the front door, he closed it quietly behind him.

He sighed and shuffled to Penny's door, knocking on it three times.

_Knock Knock Knock_

"Penny"

_Knock Knock Knock_

"Penny"

_Knock Knock Knock _

"Penny"

A very frazzled and tired, over-worked, Penny shuffled to the door, opening it and giving him a tired look.

"It's late, Sheldon. What do you want?"

Her hair was slightly frazzled, her eyes having dark lines that rimmed under them. Mascara was smudged over her eyes, due to the fact that she neglected to wipe off the easily-smeared makeup from her face before she attempted to sleep. The fabric of her tank top was wrinkled, the sleeve twisted. Her shorts were the same way.

So she hadn't been able to sleep either.

"I can't sleep"

"Go warm up some milk or something, I'm going to bed" Penny said, rubbing her eyes.

"It doesn't look like you've been sleeping at all" He commented obviously.

"Sheldon-"

"Penny"

"Well what do you want me to do?!" She snapped, rubbing her eyes sleepily.

"I don't know what I want you to do, I just thought that I would come over to inform you that I haven't been able to sleep lately- I figured you could help me with my predicament" He said, eyes boring into hers seriously.

Penny heaved a sigh of defeat. It was too late to be fighting with Sheldon Cooper. She couldn't win an argument against him on a normal basis, what made her think that she could late at night?

"Come on in, hun" She caved, opening the door for him to enter.


	6. Author's Note: Internet EtiquetteFlames

**Hello.**

**There was supposed to be a chapter set up here, but instead two hateful and childish comments made me decide that, instead of a chapter, we should have a review on Internet etiquette since apparently there are people who are still childish enough to make rude comments.**

**Well, for one. Instead of making hateful comments in ****_my reviews _****how about you straight up tell me in a private message? Or, better yet, don't even say a thing at all. That's what I, as an adult, do whenever I don't like a story. I simply close out of the story and read a different one instead of feeling as though I need to post a hateful comment.**

**But some of us are too childish to do that, are we?**

**In case you are wondering, yes this is about the rude "Shenny" comment that someone made. And yes, if someone is rude enough to say something like that in the comments instead of privately, then yes, I am going to make a statement about it just as publicly as you did.**

**For one, I will not tolerate hateful reviews or, as they call it, "flames". Again, if you don't like my story, get on with your life and find a different one. Unless, of course, you don't have a life and feel the need to come attempt to make people feel bad about a story that they put their ****_time and effort into making. _****Of course, I wouldn't ever make hurtful or rude remarks because I know there is a life outside of "The Big Bang Theory" and "Fanfiction ". But I suppose for some of us the internet is our life.**

**I, for sure, am certain that I have a life outside of watching "The Big Bang Theory". Though I cannot say the same for you, unfortunately. **

**So, continuing on with this.**

**I, on a normal basis, love being critiqued. That is, as long as it is constructive. I, as a writer, love to make sure that I make my writing the best that it can be. So naturally, I have no problem with critique. But rude comments, I do have a problem with.**

**You see, you wrongfully assumed that I am a "Rabid Shenny fan" and think that Leonard is a horrible, horrible man and that Sheldon is the only one for Penny.**

**One, get over it. It's a show on television the character isn't actually real.**

**Two, I don't believe in that common misconception. I think Leonard is a great character. **

**You decided to be ****_ignorant _****and assume that I believed that ****_despite the fact that the story is still incomplete._****Whether or not I had plans for things to change, which I do, is still unknown to you. Did you ever think that characters, like people, can change their thought process. People change, and I'm sorry that you didn't think of that when you decided to flame my story. Like I said, it was ignorant of you to assume that that is what I believed without even consoling me about it. **

**So, it would be wise to draw a conclusion on something after something is completed, wouldn't it? You know how the old saying goes about assuming things. **

**And at least have the decency to tell me your thoughts respectfully, because if someone shows me respect then I show them respect right back. It's the whole thing you learn in Kindergarden, "Treat others how you would like to be treated". **

**To add onto that, unless you have written an actual story and posted it then you have no right to flame people online because you have not been flamed yourself. **

**Finally, to those who left me kind comments/reviews about this story and favorited/followed it, I thank you immensely. They keep me writing this story despite the fact that sometimes I feel like giving up on it. I am sorry to those of you who were looking forward to a chapter right here, but I felt the need to let it be known that I will not tolerate flames nor will I stand idle and let somebody insult my work, that I put effort into.**

**-CookeyMonsta**


	7. Midnight Drinks and Conversations

**Hello, again! I can't thank you enough for all of the support! Haha, I have no intention of stopping this story! You're all right, they have nothing better to do than to just bash other people's stories! I bet it's because they're jealous that they don't have awesome supporters like you ;)! I can't thank you enough!**

Midnight Drinks and Conversations:

She had let him in in front of her, closing the door behind him as he stopped in front of her, looking around with discomfort. Oh, that's right. He hadn't chosen a spot to sit in. Quite frankly, he thought most of her furniture was uncomfortable and kind of cheap, but he absolutely had to have a spot to sit in so that the next time he came he would be able to sit down in a specific spot.

"Come on, Sheldon. You can sit at the bar" She said, shuffling in her sleeping shoes to her bar.

He gave her a look like she was absolutely insane.

"I cannot simply come sit at the bar, if I sit at the bar then every time I come here I would have to sit on that stool, and I don't want to sit on something as uncomfortable as a stool whenever I come over here"

She rubbed her eyes for the thousandth time, her head throbbing inside of her skull. It was too late to hear Sheldon's ranting about his seating choice and how it effected the future.

Shooting him a glare and giving him an inpaitent sigh, Penny snapped,

"Sheldon, it's late at night, you came to my door. You're going to sit your ass down at the bar stool and you're going to LIKE it"

Sheldon gave a rather surprised look at her, startled with her outburst, but nodded meekly and shuffled into the apartment rather quietly, a bit scared for her reaction if he denied her request. It would probably be terrifying.

As she shuffled around the counter, leaning her elbows on it and looking at him with a bored, tired, expression, he attempted to place himself comfortably on the stool. After folding and unfolding his legs several times, he decided that it wasn't worth it and simply got down from the chair and stood up in front of the other side of the counter with his, painfully-perfect, posture.

Penny raised an eyebrow at him as if to ask, "Really?".

The serious gaze that he returned to her said, "Yes, really".

She pursed her lips together slightly, rubbing them for a moment and twiddling with the fingers on her hands that was resting on her counter. Her eyes skidded up to him as they waited in awkward silence.

"So, what is it you want sweetie?" She asked, using the normal southern name of endearment that she normally had.

"I thought we've already established this, Penny, I cannot sleep but I am tired" he said as he folded his hands in front of him and unfolded them then clapped them behind his back and left them there, "And, it seems, you haven't been able to sleep either" He added.

She sighed and pulled down two glasses from the cabinets and set them down on the counter. Though, she was not pouring alcohol in it. This time. Moving to the fridge, she opened it, leaning over to rummage through it. "Ah. This should do it" She said, pulling the milk out of the back of the fridge.

"Why do you keep the milk in the back? You should keep it in the designated holder on the right side so that you don't have to dig through the fridge. It cuts down unnecessary work" He said, starring at her as she poured the milk into the cylindrical glasses.

"Quite frankly, Sheldon, I don't care where my milk is" She said with an annoyed tone in her voice, "Here" she said, handing him the glass of milk.

"Is it whole milk?"

"Yes, I keep it in the fridge especially for whenever you come over" She said with sincerity. She had to, or he would throw a fit about having skim milk rather than whole milk.

"I see"

There was a moment of silence as she took a sip from her own glass, Sheldon copying.

"So why can't you sleep, hun?"

"I just can't sleep" He answered indirectly.

"Why?"

"Because I can't slip into a state of unconsiousness. I thought you could understand things like this" He answered sharply, rather irritably.

"Yes, I understand that much Sheldon. But what is keeping you from sleeping?" She asked, growing irritable herself.

He looked at her silently for a moment, seeming to analyze her every movement and her thought process as he looked over to her. It took a while for him to formulate the words that were going to come out of his mouth.

"I am having an uncontrollable fit of memories"

"What about?"

"None of your buisness, Penny"

"Why not?"

"Because my past doesn't concern you"

"If it makes you feel any better, I'm going through the same thing as you"

"Oh, is that so?"

"Yes" She answered seriously.

"What ex-boyfriend are you moping about now?" He asked her rather sarcastically.

She gave him an angry frown with narrowed eyes and a eyebrows furrowed together.

"Well, Sheldon, for once it happens to not be an ex-boyfriend" She answered rather matter-of-factly.

"Then what is it?" He asked quizically.

"It doesn't matter" She answered rather tartly.

He gave her another silent look as he pulled the milk up to his lips and taking another drink.

"No, please elaborate" He said, setting his cup down and starring at her.

As much as she wanted to protest, it bothered her so much to the point that she felt herself having the strong urge to spill to anyone who asked. And that's exactly what she did.

"Well, there was this time that, due to Daddy's job and money issues, we had to move to Texas for a while. We were only there a year, and I know I met some people there. But I was too young to have much memory about it" She explained, finishing off her cup of milk and tossing it carefully into the sink, "And now I get the feeling that there's something important I'm forgetting. I don't know what it is, sometimes I feel like it's from my short time in Texas, but I can't be sure. It nags at me as much as you nag at Leonard over Chinese foods"

Sheldon looked at her,

"I nag Leonard for good reasons" He replied.

She sighed and then starred at him.

"I told you what's on my mind, tell me what's on yours" She said, leaning forward on her elbows and starring at him with her own intense eyes.

He looked her over for what felt like the thousandth time.

"Penny," He stated, "Why do you want to remember so bad?" He asked her, changing the subject.

"Because it's bothering me. But don't go changing the subject on me, mister, it's your turn" She said. It had never been easy to get a subject change on Penny.

"I think that I have insomnia" He answered, the lie tasting rather bad in his mouth.

"Insomnia-huh?"

He rolled his eyes and gave an exasperated head turn and shake of his head,

"Insomnia. It's the name that they give to sleeping issues that have a medical tie to it. This is simple knowledge, Penny"

"We'll I'm sorry that I'm not a doctor!"

"You don't need to be a doctor to know this, Penny!" He said, very exasperated.

"Whatever, Sheldon" She said, becoming irritated again.

She sighed,

"So you have insomnia?"

"No, it was clearly a lie" He said, sounding rather sarcastic but being honest.

"No need to be sarcastic"

He gave another sigh. He was doing a lot of sighing tonight, wasn't he? He couldn't help it. Normally he could see through lies in a heartbeat, so seeing that others couldn't was rather frustrating for him. The frustrating life of a genius.

Penny pat the seat next to her,

"Come sit"

"Absolutely not. If I were to sit there then I would have to sit there every time that I came over here"

Penny rolled her eyes,

"Fine, if it'll make you feel better then I'll sit here every time you come over, so that it doesn't ruin your schedule"

He starred at her with a raised eyebrow. Did she just suggest that? Of course she just suggested that. Sheldon's ears never heard wrong. They were Sheldon's ears, after all. He let his shoulders drop in defeat, placing himself next to her. Only because there was a plan for the next time that he came over, not that he got to sit next to her, mind you.

"Sometimes you're a real handful, Sheldon"

"So I've been told"

He starred down at her. She was short, even when they were sitting down. Well, not short compared to the average scale of people in general, she was quite average for a female her age. But, short compared to him. He was a bit tall, after all. But shorter girls had that essence about them that not even he, or any other physicist, could openly deny.

"You know, Penny, it's said that some people can't remember their past because it's too painful of a memory" He explained, leaning in slightly like he always did whenever he explained things.

"Why would it be a painful memory for me?" She asked with a raised eyebrow, "I was a little kid, not many things could have been too tragic for me"

"What makes you think that?"

"Well, my childhood was pretty good. It's not like I got shot or abused" She answered.

"Sometimes the most tragic things in our life our the things we can't remember, because our subconcious mind chooses to block them out. You don't need to be abused or... attacked at gun point, as you put it, to have something tragic happen in your life. Sometimes the most tragic thing is something as simple as loosing a friend. Tragic is measured at different scales, but all and all- you don't need something mortifying to happen to you to be considered tragic. As long as it effects you on at a large measure, it's considered tragic" He answered, hands folded in his lap.

"Wow, Sheldon. Who knew that you had so much insight?"

"I did, of course"

She rolled her eyes again.

"How do you know so much about tragedy then? You're smart and you know it. Most things that bother normal people don't bother you" She replied, leaning her elbows on her knees as that she could stretch out her spine.

"Oh, Penny. Simply because I have a higher intelligence than other people doesn't mean I can't feel. As humans, we all have emotions. Some people are so much better at hiding them than others. I suppose I would be an example of that. I don't need the comfort of others to help soothe emotions, so I don't flaunt them around like others. Just because I don't flaunt them, though, doesn't mean I can't feel them. Just because someone is highly intelligent and know that they're better than others doesn't mean that they're not subseptible to human emotions. Human emotions are something that dwell within every human being, every scientists- even the smartest ones such as I - am aware of this" He answered.

"Then what tragedy happened to you?" She asked rather openly.

He pursed his lips together,

"Well I suppose it's getting late. I don't want Leonard to think I ran off if he gets up to use the bathroom" He said, standing to his feet.

"No- Sheldon, I'm sorry I asked" She apologized, "You don't need to leave so soon"

"It's quite alright, don't think anything of it. I feel sleep slowly coming on to me. I hope you have an easy time getting back to sleep" Sheldon made his way to the door and opened it quietly, "Goodnight, Penny" and with that, it was shut.

Neither of them were able to get to sleep that night.


	8. The loosening of the Subconciousness

The Loosening of the Subconsiousness:

Penny leaned over her counter in thought, her hand resting on the counter in thought. Sighing, she starred at her door. Sheldon hadn't come back that entire night, so she supposed he would have gone to sleep. Of course, he didn't. He spent the rest of the night watching "Star Trek" reruns that he had seen over ten times each. Nothing new.

Crinkling her nose, she smelt the unusual smell of sand in her... apartment? Had she drug in sand from one of her weird parties? No, not that she remembered. Unless she was drunk... then who knows what came in and out of her house...

She shook her head and dismissed the smell. It's probably something that came with waking up before seven in the morning. Or staying up all night... either one, she guessed.

Her head pounded inside of her skull.

**_Flashback:_**

_"Penny" a boy panted._

_She turned her head to see the face a boy who was doubled over, his hands braced on his knees as he tried to catch his breath. His face was covered in sweat and his breathing was erratic._

_"Have you been running?" She asked him, raising an eyebrow at him._

_He nodded, looking over slightly to the men who were carrying boxes up the ramp into the moving truck. He frowned at the sight, at anyone's first glance it would be clearly seen as highly bothersome to him. _

_"Y-Yeah... I r-r-remembered that I f-forgot to give you s-something. Y-you gave me th-the necklace with th-the shattered piece of my old in-inhaler s-so I-I had to give you something that was of the same quality" He panted, shoving his hand into his jean pocket and yanking out his inhaler, taking a puff of it with a sigh._

_"There was really no need to-"_

_"There was" He answered a bit shakily, straightening out his posture. He had finally grown taller than her. Of course, a year really did change someone._

_She laughed slightly and rubbed the back of her head when she didn't know how to reply. She always did that. He always thought that it was cute. _

_"Well, what is it?" She asked him with that same smile little smile she always wore. The innocence of adolescene was always very adorable._

_He rummaged through his pockets, searching frantically for it. There was a moment of panic when he thought he had left it at home, but then a sigh of relief when he pulled it from his pocket. _

_"I put together all of my allowance and award money to get it" He said with a slight smile._

_It had only been about five-to-ten dollars. But hey, he was young. A dollar to buy two small pieces of gum was impressive to someone at that young age. You couldn't blame him for being proud that he put it together._

_She blinked. It wasn't much. Only a very pink flower on a silver chain. The petals were rounded, rimmed in slight silver to put more emphasis on the pink and the yellow that made up the small circle in the middle._

_At the time her favorite color was purple._

_"I-I couldn't find it in purple and..." He rubbed the back of his head, "It's all I could find with five dollars" _

_She starred at it quietly, analyzing it. _

_"I-I can run and go get another one if you don't like pink! I know your favorite color, b-but I just thought this one would look nicer- it h-had more embelishment!" He said with a frantic exasperation and panic._

_"N-No" She said, overwhelmed, "I like it!" Her face broke out into a full grin. "I like it, I like it! Don't take it back! I like it!" She said, shaking her head and burying her face into her hands. She could feel the wet tears hit her face._

_"I-If you like it then why are you crying?" He asked a bit shakily._

_"I'm crying because I'm happy, dummy!"_

_Nobody had ever given her something like that even thought they weren't obligated to. Not even her parents. Christmas and birthdays, that's all they usually got gifts for. Because they were obligated to. And her being an only child, they never worked like he had to._

_"Th-That's absurd!" He said, "I can go get another one-"_

_She snatched the necklace from his hands and held it close to her chest. _

_"I'll keep it forever!"_

_It was a bit cliche, him giving her a necklace that she promised she would keep forever. But they were little, it didn't matter to them how cliche it really was. She smiled at him._

_He smiled back,_

_"You can keep it to remember me forever, right?"_

_"Right!"_

_He didn't yet know how ironic it was to say this. Not yet, at least._

_Her arms wrapped around his neck and gave him a tight squeeze. He blinked, his arms out beside her for a moment. It was a bit sudden, it had caught him off guard. Of course, he wrapped his arms around her sides and gave her a tight squeeze as well._

_"Promise me you won't forget me?" He whispered a bit weakly._

_"Promise" She whispered back._

_Irony._

_"Penny, we got to leave!" Her mother called from the door of their now-old house._

_"I'm coming!" She called, pulling back from the hug._

_He frowned at her. Somehow, he saw that coming._

_She sighed a bit sadly, reaching up on her toes and pressing her lips to the side of his cheek softly and quickly before pulling back slightly. "Goodbye" She whispered into his ear._

_"Goodbye, Penny" He said a bit solemnly._

_She ran off, pulling the necklace over her head as she entered her car. Her parents entered the front of the car as well, starting it up. Soon enough, they were down the road. _

_He waved goodbye until she turned the corner._

**_Flashback End_**

"That's it!" She said. No, she didn't remember who it was. But she was closer!

She clambered straight to her feet and then rushed into her room, jumping over piles of clothes and shoes to get to her closet which she thrust open. Rummaging through all of the clothing, she pulled out a wooden box of jewlrey.

Her hands ran across it before she violently opened it, rummaging through it. There were some expensive jewlrey that she had gotten from past boyfriends, gold, diamonds, silver, expensive rose-shaped pins and necklaces. But, nothing was worth more to her than the small and cheap flower necklace she pulled out string-like.

She had always rummaged past it when she was going on dates and looking for accessories to wear, always shoved it to the corner of the box liked she unknowingly shoved it to the back of her mind. Sheldon had been right, there was something that kept it back from her. But that statement helped her remember. Granted, it wasn't enough to pin names to faces but it was enough to bring back the warm memory she had.

She clutched it in her hand with a huge grin on her face. She found it! She was one step closer to remembering!

Shuffling over quickly to the apartment of Leonard and Sheldon, she banged violently on the door.

"Open up!" She hollered from the other side.

The door opened, revealing a very confused and tired Leonard standing on the other side.

"Good Morning, Penny" He said, rubbing the back of his head, "What brings you over here this early in the morning? I thought you had a rule that said that nobody could wake you up before eleven unless they wanted to be punched in the throat" He said with a yawn.

"That doesn't matter! I remembered something!" She said excitedly, leaving no trace of her weariness on her body.

"What did you remember?" He asked tiredly.

"Something from my past!"

"What was it!"

She shoved her hand out to him, holding the very small necklace in her hand.

Leonard gave her a quizzical look.

"What exactly is this?" He asked her with a strange look.

"It's from an old friend! An old friend!"

She beamed at him.

He looked a bit flustered at her. Old friend?

"Wh-What old friend?" He asked, a bit shakily.

"Someone I met in first grade!" She grinned. "I can't remember the name! But it means that I'm one step closer!" She said, a bit excitedly.

He sighed when she mentioned that they were just first grade friends. Someone that she would probably never meet again. That thought gave him some comfort and security.

"One step closer to what?"

"Remembering who it is!"

"I see" He replied, "Would you like to come in?" He asked her, opening the door to her.

"Yeah! I have to show Sheldon!" She said, bounding on in.

"Whatever is this racket out here?" Sheldon asked, walking out from his room and rubbing his eyes. He was dressed in red pajama bottoms and a baggy-white T-Shirt over the top portion of his body.

"I found it!"

She held the necklace out in her hand,

"I'm closer to remembering!"

He starred at her hand with slight disbelief. Had she ... kept that all these years?

"Whatever is that in your hand?"

"A long time ago, I had this friend in Texas. I think we were best friends, and he gave me this necklace so I would remember him" Her eyebrows furrowed together, frowning, "I didn't keep my promise..."

Leonard was genuinely confused as Sheldon moved to go make his normal morning-coffee, scooping out the instant coffee from the red tub.

"What do you mean?" Leonard asked, a bit razzled by the sudden hit of new information.

"I promised that I'd remember him forever"

"I see..." Leonard said, "Maybe he's still out there"

"Yeah!" She smiled at the thought, "Maybe I'll remember more!"

Sheldon didn't look up from his coffee whenever he said,

"I highly doubt he'd remember you, and if he did I don't think he'd care" His voice was slightly bitter, "That was nearly twenty-years ago"

"What the hell is your problem-" Leonard began.

Penny raised an eyebrow,

"How did you know how long ago it was? I never said that"

"Yes you did, I heard you screaming about meeting someone in first grade. I would assume that would be nearly twenty years ago, given your age" He said bleakly, finishing making his bitter-tasting coffee, taking a sip as he shuffled to the computer.

"Oh..." She frowned at him.

"I'm sorry about Sheldon..."

"No, No it's fine. I'm used to his blunt personality" She said, shaking her head in dissapointment. Though, like the human spirit always did, she was convinced that there was a slight chance that he was wrong, "But I think you're wrong" Penny said, determined.

Sheldon looked up from his computer, a raised eyebrow at her,

"I am never wrong"

"I'll prove you wrong, Sheldon Cooper. I'll find out who he is!"

Sheldon took a sip of his coffee,

"Good luck with that" He replied, eyes never breaking contact from his bright computer screen.

Leonard didn't quite understand the magnitude of this challenge.


	9. Leonard

Leonard:

Penny gripped the small necklace in her hand tightly, starring at Sheldon with a determined look. She was going to prove Sheldon Cooper wrong, if it was the last thing that she did. Well, maybe not the _last _thing, but you get the gist of it.

"Uh-" Leonard fidgeted on his feet. What was happening? He had been relaxing easily on his couch, watching reruns on television, when Penny knocked violently on his door saying that she remembered an old friend. It made him uneasy, the thought that she might find her. After all, they had been a lot closer than he and Penny currently were.

Penny turned out the door, shuffling out of the door of their apartment and bounding to her apartment. There was the sound of her door shutting excitedly, a determined Penny going to rummage through her apartment for memories.

"Wh-What the hell was that all about, Sheldon?" Leonard asked, looking over to his friend who was banging away at his keyboard, eyes glued to the screen.

"Leonard, do you think if a small star got sucked into a black hole that the energy would simply be drained or it would implode? Perhaps the pressure would cause it to explode. No, it couldn't explode due to pressure. That would require something from the inside pushing out, not something from the outside pushing in. Silly me, this is simple knowledge" He said, shaking his head.

"Uh-What? Never mind that, Sheldon! What was that about?" He asked.

Of course, Sheldon knew that he couldn't tell Leonard that he didn't know. The reason being that Penny would contradict his denial and probably spill everything about it.

"If I tell you, Leonard, than I expect that you don't react negatively to it" Sheldon said, his eyes not leaving his screen, which was dull with pages and pages of past researches of black holes, stars and other things space-related.

"Yeah, sure, whatever- Just tell me" He said.

Leonard wasn't a bad person, not at all. He had his good qualities along with the flaws. Some of his good qualities included the ability to listen and empathize with a situation. Though, his flaws consisted of insecurity, quickly assuming things and taking things differently from the way that they were said. Not as though the flaws outweighed the good qualities, everyone had the ability to to quickly assume things, jump to conclusions and take things differently from the original way that they were intended to be taken. Leonard, like most human beings, was always quick to get jealous. Though he tried to hide it as much as he could, which was something good. Well, one could suppose.

"I will hold you to your word" Sheldon said, a bit sharply.

"Since when have you not held me to my word, Sheldon?"

"That is a valid point, Leonard. Which means that I will hold you to your word even more than I normally do because you already have prior knowledge of it, as well as over twenty years of knowing that you're supposed to act nice" Sheldon said, closing out his pages and turning his chair to face his friend. That was a slight backfire, but how bad could it be? It was Sheldon and Penny after all.

"Can I know now?" He asked, jumping slightly on his heels. Leonard really wanted to know. The suspense was killing him.

"Well, I suppose I trust you enough to tell you"

"Just tell me!"

"Alright, Alright. No need to get snippy at me. You need to practice paitence, Leonard. Well, I suppose by now the suspense is chewing at your impaitent brain, so I will tell you. When I was in first grade, a long time ago as you know, I met Penny. Hold your tongue, save all of your comments until after I have told you my story. I got bullied frequently when I was younger, like you did. It was because, of course, I was much more intelligent than others and they didn't know how to handle somebody that was different than them so, naturally, the only way they knew how to cope with it was to tease me. Well, when I was on the playground, drawing pictures in the sand, and a few of them ... thought it would be fun to push me around. Well, that was normal. But they took it a bit too far and smashed my inhaler. Before you question that, no, I don't have asthma anymore. I got over it. And, well, we were friends. Nothing really big" He explained, his voice never once wavering.

Leonard seemed a bit overwhelmed by the sudden smack of information in his face. He never once expected that whatsoever. The shock of this information could be compared to the shock of realizing that you had been saying a word wrong your entire life, which - at least to some - is a very large shock.

"Wow..." He hadn't expected that at all, "How close were you two?" He asked, slightly jealous. He wouldn't act on his jealously. It would be very unbecoming of someone.

"Not very close"

"But you gave her that necklace"

"Well Leslie Winkle gave you her body, that didn't make you two any closer than Penny and I were" He answered. Alright, so this was more than a little white lie. But, despite all of Sheldon's actual denial, he actually cared for Leonard as his friend. After all, he put up with him and his crazy demands every day of the year. Other than Penny, nobody could handle that. And not even Penny would cater to his every whim. He owed it to Leonard to spare his feelings. And besides, the past was in the past. Being close like that again was a one-in-a-million chance.

Leonard looked taken aback that Sheldon had remembered that, but he was Sheldon and it was hard for him to forget big things. Small things like flash drives were a different story. He nodded, understanding,

"Well, I suppose. Don't you think that you could tell Penny, though?"

"No"

"Well why not? Don't you think that she'd be happy to finally know?" And he was sure that Penny would be happy that he, of all people, told her what she was missing.

"Leonard, despite all the good memories that there are, I would rather her not remember. As there are good memories, the universe balances out every good thing with something just as bad or worse. There are memories that I'm sure she's buried due to the fact that she doesn't remember them. If she were to remember them, then it would tear her apart. And she's already broken enough, what with all of the ex-boyfriends and memories of the people she bullied. Remorse and regret is a strong feeling. It would be bad to pile worse memories on with that" Sheldon said, turning back to his computer and pulling up all of the pages again.

Leonard starred at him,

"I didn't think that you cared about her so much"

Sheldon's fingers paused in mid-type, his eyes starring at the screen for a moment before he turned to face his friend,

"I don't care for her in the way you think. I would rather her not sulking around the apartment complex, ruining the mood of a good day with depression that could be easily avoided" He replied, turning back to his work and starting it up again.

"I see" Leonard replied with a skeptical eye, "Then what kind of memories would make her sad?"

**_Flashback:_**

_It had only been about a month since she had moved back to Nebraska. Four weeks, one day, twenty-three hours, five minutes, two seconds and counting. Well, as far as he knew. It wasn't like he was keeping up with the time or anything._

_Of course, they had called every night. With the help from their moms, of course._

_He stretched out on his couch, the phone held delicately to his ear._

_"How has school been?" She asked from the other end. She was stretched out on her mom's bed, her father's cellphone held to her ear as she spoke to him, interested in everything that they had to say._

_"The bullying is getting worse" He said slowly, "They like to kick sand in my face and they like to say uglier names now. But I've learned to ignore it, to get over it. They don't bother me as much anymore- you did teach me how to defend myself"_

_She laughed a bit from the other end._

_"How has your school been, Penny?"_

_"It's been really good! I have a lot of friends!" _

_He smiled slightly, glad for her. When she moved away from his small town, it had opened her up to more things. He hoped with all of his heart that these things were good._

_"We have a lot of fun!" She said. He could feel her grin from the other end of the line and smiled to himself slightly. He was glad, "We played monkey-in-the-middle with a pair of this girl's glasses"_

_His smile faltered. _

_"What?"_

_"Well, one of the girls thought it would be funny if we played monkey in the middle with this girl's glasses. It was fun, and they said that the girl didn't mind!" Penny said. Her smile on the other end was suddenly very sickening. _

_"Did you actually ask the other girl if she thought it was fun?" He asked a bit quietly.  
_

_"Well, no-"_

_"Did she tell you herself that she thought it was fun?"_

_"Well, no-"_

_"Then how can you say that she had fun simply based off of secondary information?" He asked, heart sinking in his chest, "What you did was no better than what those boys did to my inhaler when I first met you"_

_"Sheldon!" _

_"Penny"_

_"It really wasn't that bad"_

_"It doesn't matter how you see it, Penny, it was still bullying and it still effects other people in a negative way. You need to stop it before it gets worse" He spoke, his head leaning against the arm of the couch._

_"Shut up, Sheldon! I don't have to take this from you!" _

_His heart sank in his chest._

_"Penny, I'm-" _

_**Click**_

_She had hung up on him._

_His heart sunk to his feet as he pulled back the phone from his ear to stare at it, seeing a blank screen. It was absolutely heart-wrenching. Already thinking about what had just happened in the past minute made his heart hurt. Things changed awfully fast, didn't they?_

_Of course, she called back a couple days later to profusely apologize. But that didn't mean things remained the same between them._

**_Flashback End_**

"It's nothing, Leonard. Just things from the past that aren't worth remembering" He said, starring at the screen.

"I see" Leonard said, beginning to store dishes in the dish washer.

Unfortunately, for Sheldon, that wasn't even the worst of the memories he had.


	10. Howard

Howard:

Sheldon leaned back in his rolling chair, fingers tapping at his desk. Penny wouldn't let the subject just drop, she just kept trying to remember. He would try to tear down her confidence in remembering, but she would only become more determined to figure everything out. Penny really was something, wasn't she?

He sighed and then stood up, moving to his board and uncapping a black _Expo _marker, holding the tip to the board. He was supposed to be solving an exceedingly difficult math problem for some company. All the companies that came to them for help were all the same. They had the money and the means of being successful, but they were never willing to solve the problems on their own.

That's where Sheldon came in. He solved the problems that nobody else could. It was the reason why he was on the "String Theory" board on top of solving minor equations on the side. He enjoyed it. Not only did it prove he was smarter than everyone, but it was something he did for leisure. Fun, really. Sheldon honestly didn't have a normal idea of fun. Others liked getting drunk or waster at a bar, spending an entire night that they probably wouldn't remember with some stranger they would probably never meet again. He liked to spend all night pouring over equations, trying to crack the codes. Equations, they were like mysteries to him. And Sheldon cooper loved mysteries. It made him feel like Freddy, despite the fact he would be the Velma of the group.

His marker only left a black dot on the white board as he starred at it. He should be concentrating on the equation- But, of course, his mind wandered over to the oh-so-familiar blonde.

He shook his head. Focus on your work, Sheldon. Work is for work and thoughts of personal problems were for times other than work.

While Sheldon's logical side believed this and wanted to practice this ethic, his mind itself didn't want to follow these ethics. His mind was swirling was thoughts about Penny.

_How come she's so determined? _

_Why does she want to remember so bad?_

_What will happen if she remembers?_

**_Will she be able to even stand looking at me without feeling remorse and regret on the off chance that she does remember, or will the guilt be too heavy that avoiding me is the only way to cope with it?_**

That thought was the thought that scared him the most, though he couldn't rationalize it. He couldn't rationalize why the thought that there was the chance she might break to the point she couldn't look at him actually made his heart break.

Sheldon Cooper's heart didn't, shouldn't, break at a hypothetical case scenario. In fact, he was convinced that he _couldn't _be swayed buy hypothetical case scenarios such as that, even if he was.

His dry-erase marker tapped on the whiteboard as he tried to focus on the equation. His eyes would focus on the letters and numbers and symbols that were drawn on his board but whenever he went to solve a piece of it, the writing would blur up and jumble up. His mind wasn't there, in fact, it was far, far, far from there.

He rubbed his forehead in thought then set his dry-erase marker back down on his desk. There was no chance of getting any work today- that much was quite plain and clear.

He stood silently in thought, his hand to his face, turned to where his index finger was pressed slightly against his lip. His free arm braced underneath his "thinking arm", holding it up.

"Hey, Sheldon" The clicking of the door coming open/

Sheldon's eyes skidded up to meet the eyes of an excited Howard, who's right hand was clinging to the doorknob as he was holding up most of his weight on it.

"Is it true that you knew Penny when she was little and don't want her to know?" Howard asked, his eyes lit up brighter than a teenage-girl who just heard the latest gossip about some cute boy .

Sheldon sighed. Of course. He should have pre-calculated the effect of telling Leonard what was going on. Maybe, in the spur of the moment, he thought that Leonard could hold it. Of course, he couldn't. Though Sheldon couldn't blame him. If he himself had heard something like that, Sheldon was quite sure that at any moment in time he could spontaneously combust into fits of a gossiping-rage.

So, Sheldon knew that he couldn't really say anything to Leonard about it- knowing that he would have probably done the same thing himself.

"Yes, and?" Sheldon asked, letting his hands drop down to his sides.

"Annnd, why aren't you going to tell her?" Howard asked, pursing his lips into a tight and rather excited smile.

"No"

"Well why not? Don't you think that she will get excited about it- Maybe she'll uncover old, hidden feelings for you and then-"

"Howard, I'm not really in the mood for your nonsense about women. This isn't one of those soap operas you watch on daytime television, where once everything is uncovered everything is finally okay" Sheldon shot, folding his arms over his chest.

"Hey- I don't watch those shows! My mother does!" Howard defended.

Sheldon raised an eyebrow,

"Do you join her in watching those shows, because you do seem to know an awful a lot about the plot line of more than two of their shows that they show on that specific channel"

Howard faltered for a moment before snapping,

"You know what, that's not what I came in here for! Why won't you tell her?" He asked, "You could, like, I don't know, kindle a romantic relationship and then live happily ever after or something"

Sheldon sighed, arms still crossed over his chest,

"It's not as simple as that, Howard"

"Of course, nothing ever is simple with you Sheldon" He commented with a frown, "You're given a chance at getting a girl and you're just going to sit here and blow it! I mean, I personally think that Penny has more chemistry with you than Leonard" He looked around slightly to make sure that nobody had passed by and heard what he had just said, "And obviously it goes further back then when she moved across the hall!"

"I don't know how many times I have to explain this to people, it's not as simple as you seem to put it. You speak without knowing the past, you have no warrant to tell me what I should and should not do about the situation. If you knew my motives and reasoning, I don't think that you would say the same things that you are saying" Sheldon spoke, hands clenching and unclenching in their spots by force of habits, "So before you hound me about my stupidity in not chasing down a girl that I don't want to chase down, I will explain it for you. The human mind is an incredible thing, as you know. It remembers and stores information. Well, sometimes if the memories it has are too painful for that person to handle then it stores it into the back of the mind, so to speak, so that they won't have to remember it. It's like a block, if you will. Now, as well all know, Penny already deals with a lot of regret about picking on the people she did in the past. It's already difficult enough for her to deal with those memories. The memories she has of me can be considered both good, and bitter. And you can't simply remember one thing without remembering all of the other memories attached to that one memory. If she remembers me, even one good memory, it can set off a chain of memories that will include her remembering some things that she won't be able to handle remembering. If she remembers those things, then it will put an enormous emotional toll on her body. I don't think she would ever be able to look again if she remembers the things she can't remember"

Howard paused for a moment, the gears in his head turning.

"So what I heard is that you don't want her to remember because it's going to hurt her and you want to _protect _her as well as you are afraid of damaging the relationship that you already have with her"

Sheldon blinked,

"That is not what I said at all"

"That's what you said in a nutshell" Howard shrugged with a grin slowly climbing up onto his face.

"Howard, what's with that grin creeping up onto your face?"

"Oh, nothing"

"Don't you dare think of telling anyone the lie that had just spurt from your mouth" Sheldon said, his arms dropping back down to his sides.

Howard's hand let go of the doorknob as he violently pivoted, shuttling down the hallway at full speed,

"RAAAAJJ"

"HOWARD"

Sheldon Cooper shuttled after him.


	11. Raj

Raj:

"RAJJJJJ I HAVE SOMETHING TO TELL YOU" Howard hollered down the hall as he took a sharp right down the hallway into another wing. He was headed to the lunch room.

Sheldon shuttled after him at an impressive speed for him, due to the fact that he wasn't one to go running on a normal basis. He huffed slightly. He never expected Howard to actually have a pretty impressive amount of speed.

"Howard! Get back here!" Sheldon hollered in between huffs of breaths. Maybe this "working out" thing that Penny talked about was actually a helpful thing.

"RAAAJ I HAVE TO TELL YOU SOMETHING" He screamed, running down another hallway. He bounded into the lunchroom, where Leonard was standing in the lunch line and Raj sitting in his normal spot.

"What is it Howard?" Raj asked with a raised eyebrow at his friend who had skidded into his spot.

"HOWARD DON'T YOU DARE-" A voice screamed from down the hallway.

"Is that Sheldon?" Raj asked as others turned to try and see where the voice was coming from but shrugged when they couldn't find the owner of the voice and turned back to eating whatever they were eating.

"Yes, yes" Howard breathed, folding his arms on the lunch table and leaning forward slightly, "I don't have time to explain in explicit details but Sheldon met Penny a long time ago"

"Oh yeah, I know. Leonard told me"

"And he doesn't want her to remember because he loves her, but is in denial, and wants to protect her. And he thinks that if she remembers she might get so depressed about whatever memory is held up in that noggin of hers and their relationship will never be the same again" He said, nearly all in one breath.

"Oh- Really?" Raj asked in slight disbelief as Sheldon skidded into the lunchroom, stumbling a bit for practically collapsing into his chair and glaring at the two men that sat in their chairs, grinning like idiots.

Sheldon breathed heavily, trying to catch the breath that he had lost trying to catch Howard.

They simply sat there, grinning with that grin they had whenever their mind was reeling.

"So, Sheldon, why won't you go get her?" Raj asked him, leaning forward on his own elbows and looking at the rather flustered and out of breath as he sat there, breathing heavily.

"That's none of your buisness, Raj"

"It's because he loves her so much that he wants to protect her" Howard said with a grin.

"Awe, that's really sweet"

Now Sheldon Cooper couldn't tell whether or not they were joking with him, or actually being genuine. Sometimes it could be difficult to differenciate between teasing and being serious with them.

"It is neither cute nor sweet," Sheldon commented with agitation, "I'd rather you stay out of buisness that pertains to me and let me handle my issues on my own"

"And let you pass up on the greatest chance of your life?" Raj asked, "No way man"

"The greatest chance of my life? Whatever do you mean by that?" Sheldon asked, his breathing finally calmed down enough so that he didn't have to talk between heavy breaths.

"Getting the girl, duh" Howard commented, "It's stupid of you to pass up your chance" He added, watching as Raj poked at his salad while nodding his head in agreement with him.

"No-"

"I have to agree with Howard, Sheldon. It's pretty stupid to pass up on a chance like this" Raj interrupted, "You've got the chance to end up with some chick and you're blowing it-"

"I have no intention of being with Penny" He said.

Raj and Howard shook their heads,

"What a damn shame, you two could be something together" Howard commented.

"Hey guys, what are you talking about?" Leonard asked with a smile as he sat down at the table with the rest of them.

"Nothing" Raj said, shaking his head again, "What are you so happy about?"

He grinned to himself and poked his own meal,

"Oh nothing, I just got a date with Penny tonight"


	12. Baby Steps, Leonard

**Haha... so how did you all feel about the end of the last chapter? I felt like everything in the story was too predictable, . . . I mean, usually my writing can be predictable. So, I decided to shift it up a bit. . . So now there's both the conflict of the memories and the conflict of Leonard's feelings for Penny, which hadn't really been acted upon until now. Well, enough of my rambling! On we go! **

Baby Steps, Leonard:

Sheldon sighed as he listened to Leonard hum something barely audible from his bathroom. Yes, he should have seen it coming. He just... hadn't expected it to happen so soon, that was all. It wasn't as though he were jealous or upset with Leonard at all, that would be preposterous!

Wouldn't it?

He shook his mind clear of thoughts that he could possibly be jealous, turning back to his computer. Since Leonard would be out on a date with Penny, that meant that he would have to find his own means of getting dinner. He sighed again. That would be difficult, seeing as there weren't many food services that would be able to put up with his demands despite the fact that they were, as he put it, created to be of service to the customer.

Sheldon starred at his computer intensely.

Currently, he was working on a study on what made human beings develop feelings for each other. Of course, it wasn't his choice of topic. Had he it his way, he would continue his research on string theory. But, of course, he had to subdue to the wants of his superiors. After all, he did need a job to be able to support himself. That much was self-explanatory to the physicist.

"Sheldon, where did you put my cologne while rearranging everything?" Leonard asked from the bathroom.

"Top shelf on the right" Sheldon said in a rather bored tone, attempting to seem uninterested in the chivalry that was of dating.

"Thank you" Leonard replied.

One must admit, Sheldon was being a good sport about it. After all, Leonard was his friend, after all. Savatage was certainly out of the question. Not that he ever thought of it in the first place! No, Sheldon Cooper was not, and would never be, jealous of something trivial like a girl. To be jealous would completely void all of his other personality traits.

Of course, one could change if the circumstances were right, all scientists know that much.

But Sheldon Cooper would not change simply for one female!

Right?

He sighed and dismissed his inner turmoil. If he could just get through this one study, then he could get back to string theory and everything would be normal. And besides, if Penny said yes to Leonard then some force in the Universe must be pulling them together.

Right?

Well, if that much was said for Leonard, then he supposed that scientifically there could be a force pulling him and Penny together. They had, after all, been best friends at one point in their lifetime and to meet again- the odds were working for them.

Scientifically speaking, nothing more than that, of course.

He sighed and leaned back in his chair even further. "You're going to be late if you don't hurry up, Leonard" Sheldon said as he starred at his computer even more.

"I'm coming" He said, walking out of the bathroom with a booming confidence emminating from him.

He was pretty spiffy, dressed as though he were going to a black-tie event.

"You look like you're going to the eighth grade prom" Sheldon commented, looking over his friend with a rather skeptical eye. In actuality, he looked very nice. His hair was slicked back and he was wearing a nice cologne... "You should have invited her somewhere more downscale on a first date. That's where first dates usually are, so I've been told"

"Why are you being so hostile?" Leonard asked with a frown, "I just want to be able to look back on our first date years later and remember that we went somewhere nice"

Sheldon looked over to him,

"Are you assuming that you're going to hit it off on the first date? It could be a complete disaster, as far as you know. And suppose you do hit it off, what if you date her and then by some tragic accident you were to drive eyour car off of a cliff and into a ditch. . ." He answered, trailing off at the last part.

Leonard raised an eyebrow at him,

"You have an active imagination, don't you Sheldon?"

"You do too as well, Leonard, seeing as you're already imagining the future. Here's a tip on how to get along with Penny, baby steps. She gets scared if you think too far into the future" He said a bit softer.

Leonard raised an eyebrow at him,

"Alright" he replied rather skeptically at Sheldon.

"Baby steps, Leonard" Sheldon said again, "Penny isn't one to think of the future. The future scares her, marriage and relationships and such. It's due to the fact that she's had bad relationships"

"Yes, Sheldon, I understand" Leonard said as he walked adjusted his wrist watch and headed to the door, opening it.

"Baby steps, Leonard!" Sheldon called after.


	13. A Date with Penny

A Date With Penny:

Penny shifted in her chair, the dress chafing at her thighs. It was uncomfortable, the dress was uncomfortable. It was a pretty dress, though, red and ending at her thighs. Her nails were painted red as well, to match her clothing of course.

"You look really nice in red" He stated, "No wonder it's your favorite color"

"Actually, Leonard, my favorite color is pink" She replied, tapping the small pink flower hanging off of her pale neck. It didn't match her outfit, but she felt the necessity to wear it anyways. She couldn't help it, though. She had the necessity to wear it ever since she found it. Her neck felt bare without it, for an odd reason.

Leonard inwardly flinched. Her attachment to the necklace unnerved him. Especially knowing that it came from Sheldon. It was from a younger Sheldon, granted, but it was still from Sheldon. From some other guy other than him. It rather stung, you see. You couldn't blame him for feeling the slight discomfort and jealousy it caused him. He did care for her, of course. You couldn't blame the poor sap.

He sighed and shifted in his chair uncomfortably.

"S-So... how is work?" He asked her, rubbing his hands together.

"It's good. How is your work?" She answered a bit bleakly.

"It's very good! We're a bit closer on a lot of our projects" He answered, a bit excitedly.

"That's good"

"Yeah!"

There was a droning silence.

This was going to be a long date, wouldn't it?

Sheldon sighed and leaned back into his chair. He sighed and then placed his hand to his forehead. He was starting to sink into his chair a lot more lately, wasn't he? It could be due to the stress factor of work.

Yes. It was the stress factor of work. He would call it that.

There was the subtle clicking noise of the door opening, Leonard entering the apartment. His mood was a bit indifferent, probably leaning more toward a negative attitude than positive.

Sheldon didn't say anything, just leaned back in his chair. He gave himself a spin, his legs extended out in front of him. Spinning had always been a fun stress reliever. What better way to relieve stress than to spin in your chair and think?! Well, there was the sensation of vomiting if you did it excessively, which is why Sheldon spun in moderation. One spin, ten minute wait, one spin, and then another ten minute wait. It helped moderate everything.

Leonard shuffled in with a sigh, keys hanging on his fingers as he gave them a rather depressed twirl and tossed them into the bowl on the counter, where all the keys always went.

"Some date that was" He muttered.

No reply.

A sigh.

No reply.

Another exaggerated sigh.

Sheldon joined the band wagon and gave a sigh as well,

"I wasn't interested in asking how your date went, but seeing as you are being adamant on wanting to tell someone, I will listen to it. Just remember, I don't really care what happened between you and Penny"

Leonard gave a slight smile. That was his friend, Sheldon, anyways. He couldn't simply change the fact that Sheldon was Sheldon, that was a fact as well.

"Well, Sheldon" Leonard began, "It actually went very fine. We have another date, she said yes to me when I asked her"

"Then what was with the heavy sighs? It's rather annoying when your body signals and the data doesn't match up with your emotions. Shouldn't you be happy that you have another date?"

"Well, it started out fine"

"And then you took ginormous, giant-leap-for-man-kind steps, didn't you, Leonard? It was asking for the second date so soon, wasn't it" Sheldon asked, giving himself a spin in the chair. It was only three minutes since he gave himself another spin, but to heck with the rules! Just for now at least. Once the hectic reality of his life calmed down he would be able to abide by the rules.

Sheldon Cooper was always right.

"Hey, Sheldon. You only knew Penny for about a year, how do you know so much about her?" Leonard asked, tapping the pads of his index fingers together awkwardly.

"Well, our friendship didn't end when she moved away. For the longest while we spoke via telephone lines" He answered, "Of course, we used home phones, cell phones weren't a fad then"

Leonard rolled his eyes,

"I know, Sheldon, I grew up in the same era as you"

"It seems like you were born just yesterday seeing as you didn't heed my warning about taking baby steps, Leonard" He answered rather matter-of-factly.

Leonard rolled his eyes again,

"Well, how long did you talk to each other?"

"Just for a short amount. We fell apart, as one would say"

"How so?"

**_Flashback_**

_He starred at his phone with patience, waiting for the familiar ring. They had been talking for about three months now, though consequently due to the fact that she was in Nebraska, they weren't as close any more._

_He starred._

_There was no ring. _

_Maybe she was looking for his number._

_He memorized her home-phone number by heart. _

_He waited for ten more minutes._

_Maybe she was just doing homework, or something of the sort._

_Ten more minutes._

_No ring._

_Maybe she was with friends._

_He sat at the phone for a good forty-five minutes before he sighed, his shoulders slumped slightly. She wasn't going to call, not after so long. But, of course, he was going to wait it out until she called. It was schedule, of course, and Sheldon never broke schedule. Schedule had always been important to him, after all. And she always called. Everyday. _

_He sat in his chair, starring at the dark gray phone with an intensity as though he were willing it to ring._

_Ring!_

_There was the small beeping sound and he jolted up from his chair, violently grabbing the phone and slamming his finger onto the button with the green letters painted on it._

_"Hello" He answered, a bit too cheerily._

_"Hello, Sheldon? This is Mrs. Lopez. Is your mother there?"_

_He felt his heart sink into the pit of his chest, a frown taking over his features. He hadn't been expecting any other call. Nobody else was supposed to call until after Penny called! It broke schedule! It wasn't supposed to happen!_

_"Uhm, Mrs. Lopez, I mean no disrespect toward you, but I'm trying to keep the line open-"_

_"I really need to speak to your mother. Would you please put her on?" _

_"Mrs. Lopez-"  
_

_"Please, Sheldon" It was more of a demand rather than a question._

_He sighed in defeat. _

_"Yes, Mrs. Lopez" He answered rather disapointed. _

_Penny never called after his mother hung up with the phone._

_He sat up all night by the phone. _

**_Flashback End_**

Sheldon looked over to Leonard,

"Not long, Leonard, and it didn't mean a single thing to me" He answered.

"I see"

Sheldon stood up, stretching slightly,

"I'm going to go see how Penny is doing"

He left the apartment, leaving a baffled friend behind.


	14. Another Midnight Conversation

Another Midnight Visit:

Leonard fidgeted in his space as he watched his friend leave the room, followed by the three knocks, the saying of her name, and then three knocks again and then repeated until the door was opened and he was let it.

Leonard sighed, and went to sit in his spot on the couch. Leaning his arm on the arm of the couch, he brought his hand to his mouth and thought. On a normal basis, whenever he managed to get a date, Sheldon wasn't as helpful as he had been this time. Oh, well. She was an old friend. Leonard could understand that much.

Right?

He shook his head, leaning over to grab the remote off the coffee table and turning on the television. Flipping through the channels, he decided that nothing interested him too much and settled for reruns of "Pawn Stars" on the History Channel.

Leonard frowned. His mind wasn't in the right place tonight. But you couldn't blame him, now could you? After all, the girl that he liked didn't show that much genuine interest in him.

Though, what he currently was worried about right now was confrontation. When Sheldon felt like it, he was sure that he would confront him about spilling his secret. But, then again, if he felt like he wasn't a threat for letting his secret out to Penny. Which, being that it was Howard and Raj, it was at high risk of being randomly blurt out during playing a game of "Halo".

He tapped his fingers against the side of his head.

Why couldn't life be easy?

Seriously.

All he wanted was a girl he was interested in to be interested in him too.

This always happened.

Always, always, always.

It wasn't fair.

He frowned to himself as he pulled of his glasses, wiping them on the end of his shirt to clean the excess dust from them. Was it too much to ask for? No, he didn't think so. Most people didn't think so.

In all honesty, it wasn't too much to ask for. The problem was practicing patience, and knowing when you've lost.

And, of course, most people don't realize when they've lost to someone else before they've started.

Sheldon sat next to Penny, listening to her rambling, on the same spot on the couch that they previously sat on. It was uncomfortable, hard to deal with sitting on. But it's where he chose to sit the previous time and consequently he had to sit here there each time he came. And consequently for Penny she was stuck sitting by the scientist each time he came over.

"I don't understand, I thought that it was considered good whenever you get a second date" Sheldon inquired. His thought were somewhere else, naturally. Upon the topic of confronting his friends about keeping their mouths shut. . .

"Well, it can go both ways. If you're happy about dating this person, it's one thing, but if you feel guilted into it then it's another thing"

Sheldon nodded his head, understanding that much at least.

"Then why did you say yes? If I were to somehow, surprisingly, be interested in dating and went on a date, though realize that this would not happen because I, by myself, am an interesting person and don't need the company of someone else, but lets say we do. If I had no interest in dating them again, then I would decline. I wouldn't decline as politely as others, granted, but I would not subject myself to that torture again" He answered.

She raised an eyebrow at him,

"But you're so painfully truthful, most of the time, that it's easy for you to say no to people because you don't think about their feelings"

"Of course I don't think of their feelings, I like putting my well being before others. Something that you should try doing"

Penny blinked. She was pretty convinced that she had put her well being first.

"I do"

"Well, you do to an extent. But when it comes to the feelings of others, due to prior realizations of you being a bully in your past, you've become a bit, lets say this for lack of better words, softer when it comes toward the feelings of others" He answered.

"When did you get to learn all of this pyhscology stuff?"

"When I got my doctors degree, Penny"

She sighed and shook her head at that comment. Of course Sheldon would say something like that.

"Well, I mean, I like Leonard. He's really sweet and attentive,"

"I'm surprised that you know what the word attentive means-"

"Shut up Sheldon"

"I'm just saying"

"Shut up"

"Whatever makes you feel intelligent"

She shook her head again.

"What I was saying before you made that rude comment was that, he's really sweet and kind and I like him. He listens to me more than anyone else ever had. I do like him. He's got qualities that I like in a guy, so-"

"All I'm hearing are excuses to why you should be interested in him. One simply cannot force something like this on themselves. Who you're interested in and who you love, which might I add is a rather ridiculous feeling, is no much your choice as the natural color of your hair or eyes. Or so others have told me"

She blinked at him.

"How do you know what to say to everything?"

"Because I'm highly intelligent and smart, so it comes easily to me"

She rolled her eyes and shook her head, sighing with a slight smile.

"Sheldon Cooper, you really are something"

He blinked,

"Something as in intelligent?"

Penny laughed, leaving him a bit baffled and confused.

"You're funny. Something as in just something, I can't explain it"

"Well I'm sure if you put your small mind to it you couldn't procure one word to explain what you mean"

"Just something"

He shook his head,

"Sometimes I can't understand you" He said, leaning his elbows on his knees, starring at her.

"That's something. The amazing Sheldon Cooper can't figure out an average-mind such as me"

His eye twitched slightly. Was that, a challenge?

It was a challenge.

Penny smirked slightly at him.

"I wouldn't say that-" Sheldon began.

"But you just said that you couldn't understand me-"

"Sometimes"

Smirk.

"But most of the time I can understand your-"

"But in those sometimes moment you can't"

His eye twitched a bit violently, leaving a smirking and nearly laughing Penny as he stood up and stormed to the door.

"Where are you going, Sheldon?"

"To figure you out"

And with that, he slammed the door close.

Penny laughed and jogged to her door, opening it and leaning on the door knob with a grin. He was almost to his door, just angrily fumbling with his key as he tried to unlock it.

"You can't figure someone out through research, Sheldon. You have to actually get to know them!"

"Preposterous"

And with that, he opened his door with a fumble and closed it behind him. He left a very amused Penny hanging on her doorway before she shook her head for the last time of the night and retreated back into her house.


	15. A slap in the face from Memory Lane

**Unfortunately, this story is actually dwindling down to it's finish. Not too soon, of course. It'll seem short, but it's the way I had it planned out ever since I started this story. I think it'll be a nice ending, once we get to it. I don't want to drag this out too long and it be like the Supernatural series is now, a pain to sit through. Of course, it's a ways before it's done and finished. To be honest with you, once this is done, it'll be the first multi-chapter fanfiction that I've ever completed! The rest of them are very long ones, that I have yet to complete.**

**So once this is finished, do you think that I should do another one of these? By these I specifically mean a Sheldon and Penny fiction. I already have a slight idea for what I want to do, I just want to know if I should do it or not.**

**Well, without further a do!**

A Slap in the Face from Memory Lane:

Sheldon Cooper had given up on his attempts to figure out Penny. He had attempted to gather information from Raj and Howard. But naturally, they told him the same thing.

_"You can't figure a woman out unless you get to know her! Ask Penny on a date! Get to know her! Your chemistry is great, given the fact that you have a past. While you're on your date you can start talking, tell her that you're her dream man from the past! Go get married!" _

Pretty much the same thing constantly, over and over and over and over until it drove him up the wall.

Penny sighed and leaned against the couch arm with an exasperated sigh.

"Online Cosmopolitan Magazines will not help you figure me out" She sighed, starring at him with a rather bored expression. He had been doing this for a good three weeks now, it had almost been a month. When he was going to stop was far beyond her. And quite frankly, his research wasn't working out at all.

"I must utilize all resources" He answered, leaning forward to his computer slightly.

She sighed and moved over to his chair, leaning her arms on the back of it and looking over his shoulder. He smelled faintly of dry erase markers and comic book pages.

Crinkling her nose together, she pulled back before he could complain about the proximity of his closeness and twiddled the necklace that was hanging off of her neck.

It was a familiar smell, she had to admit. Not familiar as in, "Oh, I've smelt him just yesterday" because, quite frankly, Penny didn't make a habit out of smelling Sheldon Cooper. That was just odd and weird. It was more of a distant smell, you see.

Rubbing her head, she moved over and sat in the chair where Raj would normally sit. She had yet another date with Leonard. Oh gee, she was so excited. Sarcastically speaking, nonetheless. Like it's been stated before, she did care for him. In a platonic, friendly sort of sense. Penny believed that he needed someone to keep up with his pace, something that she couldn't do- and if she did, it would be a struggle.

"I'm closing tonight's attempt and stamping it as a failure" Sheldon said, his hands brushing over the few notes, of plenty, that he had managed to scrape together in the amount of time that he had been researching that day. He sighed and pulled a stamp out of his drawer, pressing it against the ink and marking the manilla folder that he had closed.

Penny rolled her eyes. How typical of Sheldon.

He positioned his chair so that he could see her, his hands in his lap like they always were.

"Do you intend to sit here and freeload off of us tonight as well?" He asked.

"Yep. Leonard's already added my order to the list" Penny replied, leaning back casually into the chair.

"Ah, well. The usual, I see" He said, standing up, "I suppose that you're going to be here whether I enjoy your company or not, so I guess I can find something to pass my time"

Sheldon stood up, moving over to his bookshelf and thumbing through the comics he deemed not important enough, so he could actually take it from their plastic sleeve and read it.

"Read it, Read it yesterday, Read it, Read it..." He continued to thumb through it, eyes scanning over each and every one of them, "Ah- I haven't opened this one in years. Well, I suppose now is a better time than never to read it"

"Are you talking to yourself, Sheldon?"

"Have I addressed you, Penny?"

"No"

"Then yes, I am talking to myself"

She sighed. He was a painfully blunt person, she had to admit. But he did have his good qualities, whatever they may be. She watched as he moved over and sat in his spot, on his lap the very-well taken care of, discontinued, early 1980's comic book "Wonderwall" sitting on his lap. _(A/N: This, I made up off the top of my head. If there really is a early, discontinued, 1980's comic book named Wonderwall out there... I do not own it) _He hadn't read it since his senior year in high school, and that was a long ways back. Even he had to admit that much. Maybe he supposed that it was too painful of a memory to relive, but nevertheless he kept it on compulsion.

"Oh, that book!" Penny said, "Once, in my senior year of high school, I saw this really thin kid with that same book. He was really-"

She paused mid-sentence.

It finally hit her.

**_Flashback:_**

_Of course she was Captain of the Cheerleading squad. She had worked for it ever since she was a freshman, so she got it. Naturally, the skirts were short and the tops small and form-fitting, that's a nice way to put it. _

_And every cheer-captain needs their team of followers, waiting hand and foot on them while also hoping for a piece of information to leak about them so that their popularity will drain down the sink, right?_

_Sheldon Cooper hadn't spoken to her since he was thirteen, and they hadn't met up since his twelfth birthday, when she came down for a surprise visit. Perhaps she just forgot about him, like all of the other people that had come in and out of his life. Oh, well. He was content with being alone. He was in Nebraska for a couple days, him and a few of his chess teammates had made it to national finals. They didn't have anywhere else to hold the finals, so they were hosting it in a very small town, much like his own, in the center of Nebraska. He had thought that Penny had moved to Nebraska, but the chance of her being at the same school was one-in-a-million. So he pushed the possibility far into the back of his head. He had a National Championship to win, didn't he? He couldn't focus on such frivolous things such as old-flames. Not that she was an old flame! No! Far from it! Nothing of that sort was even connected to Sheldon Cooper in any shape, form or fashion._

_He sat on the bleachers, reading an old comic "Wonderwall" that Penny had gotten him for his eighth birthday. It was a very poor choice, but he couldn't blame her. She wasn't really into comic books, after all. She did try, too. It was the thought that had counted. Besides, next to his smashed up inhaler that was attatched to a string, it was the only connection he had to his past and her. _

_"Hey, Penny! Are you comin? The basketball game is about to start!" He heard a girl squeal. _

_His eyes shifted up to see a brunette girl tugging playfully at the arm of another blonde, who was giggling as she did so. You know... he could have almost believed that it was Penny. If he didn't know any better, of course. The likelihood of them crossing paths again was slim to nothing._

_He sighed and looked back down to his comic._

_"C'mon, Penny!" She said again, the giggling still continuing, "Did that year in Texas slow you down?"_

_"That was a long time ago!" The blonde shot back with a squeal._

_Sheldon looked up slightly, seeing the girl. You know what, she did look an awful lot like Penny did. And it was said that she had lived in Texas for a year. Maybe that one-in-a-million chance was actually happening! For a reason unknown to him, he felt excitement well up in his chest. Perhaps it was meant to be, right? It was a one-in-a-million chance that he got to see her again, and lookie! Here she was!_

_He stood up and pulled back his shoulders, not at all scared to confront her. Sheldon Cooper never had problems confronting people about anything, that was a well-known fact. _

_"Ehem- Uhm, Penny" He said as he moved up to her, tapping her shoulder as he held the comic book in his free hand._

_She whipped around, her eyes meeting his briskly. Something... had changed about her, that much was plain and clear. Of course, she was older and had much more of a womanly figure than when he last saw her, but... it was something internal that you could point out only if you had known her before high school._

_"Eh, yes?" She asked him, her gaze bored and expressionless._

_"I'm... Sheldon Cooper... you know... that kid you met in Texas?"_

_She furrowed her eyebrows together in thought. She didn't recognize him at all, but then again, a lot of him had changed since he was eight years old. Time had treated him impassively, there was nothing that stood out about him despite the fact that he was very tall and slinky. He hadn't been cursed with acne like most kids his age, his face was fine. He was just, someone else in the crowd, one could put it that way I suppose._

_"Uhm, no. I don't remember you" Penny replied blankly, uninterested nearly._

_He pulled out the piece of his inhaler that was hanging on a string, the piece that was neatly tucked under his shirt,_

_"You saved me from the bullies when I was younger... This is the piece of my inhaler they smashed. You gave it to me and told me not to forget me. Don't you remember, Penny?" He asked._

_Of course she didn't remember, though. He had an identic memory. He remembered nearly everything that had happened in his life. Penny was just plain-old average Penny. There was nothing too phenomenal about her intelligence. Men wanted her for her body, if that was something phenomenal about her. Naturally, he had to see past that. Right? After all, he had never been one to judge souly based on physical appearance. He had no use for physical appearances, after all._

_"No, I'm sor-"_

_"You know this loser, Penny?" The girl asked. Something to use against her. If she knew this "loser", as she put it, then it was clearly something to use against her. After all, popularity was important to this so-called comrade and she was willing to beat off any of her supposed friends to gain more of it. _

_"N-No!" _

_"He's so tall and slinky, how do you know a loser like this?!" _

_"Because we met in-" Sheldon began, but was cut off by the hand of the female who had once been one of his closest friends._

_"No! We haven't met anywhere! I don't know losers like you, alright? So go screw off and play one of your dungeons and trolls games or something that **people like you **play" Penny snapped._

_"Don't you remember?" He was persistent as he always was, "You gave this to me for my eighth birthday" He held out the comic book toward her._

_"You gave him that stupid book?" The brunette beside Penny asked, looking at her with an ever-so-slight smirk on her face._

_"No!"_

_"Yes! It even has it here on the front page, it says: To Sheldon, from Penny. Happy-"_

_He had opened the front page to show her it when it was snatched from his hands in a fit of rage._

_"I don't remember you or your stupid books!" And with that, she had clutched the comic book page in her hands and blindly tore out the page, crumpling it and throwing it at the boy. _

_With that, she stormed off with her friend giggling at her feet._

_For the first time, he felt his heart shatter into uneven pieces at his feet._

_And she left him there to pick up the broken pieces and glue them together all by himself._

_**Flashback End**  
_

"Is that-"

"Is this what, Penny?" Sheldon asked with an arched eyebrow, holding up his comic book in confusion.

In what felt like a swift moment, she was on her feet and practically rushed in front of him, snatching the book from his hand.

"What in the world are you doing?!-"

Her fingers rammed into the book, practically tearing it open. And just as she had expected, there was a line where a page had been teared out of it, a small little pen mark from where she missed the supposed signature still there.

"Oh my God-"

"What in the world?"

"You're that kid!"

"What are you talking about?"

"You're that kid I was trying to remember and-"

"I have no idea what you're talking about"

Denial.

"Yes! That kid... the memories- Oh my God!"

"Penny, calm down this erratic behavior. I assure you that I have no idea-"

"Sheldon Cooper, you know exactly what I'm talking about! It's why you've been so adamant about leaving the past in the past! Oh my God!- After everything-"

"Penny, calm down. I assure you I have no clue what you're talking about"

More lies to calm her down, to coax her into a calmer state.

"You're lying to me! You're that kid... We were so close... and I treated you so horribly! Oh my God"

It was like that was the only thing that she could repeat, Oh my God. And she repeated it over and over and over again, Sheldon trying to keep her calm and to keep her from hyperventilating.

Couldn't Howard and Raj see? This was why it was kept a bundled-up secret.

She couldn't even look him in the eyes while he tried to calm her down.

"Oh my God- I can't believe that after everything- I treated you like-"

"I have no idea what you're talking about, calm down"

More lying to attempt calming her down.

"You're lying to me! I remember exactly what happened! I- your book!" She looked down at the comic in her hands, which were shaking slightly. How could she have been so horrible to someone who had always been so kind to her?! Neglecting him for all of those years, then when faced with the chance of reconciliation, she treated him so horribly! The guilt, the guilt, the guilt was all that raged in her. Her hands bunched together, the comic slightly crumpling in her hands as she shoved it into his chest and rushed herself out the door.

"Penny-"

Naturally, he had to chase after her.

It was, after all, the only logical thing to do.

**A/N: **

**I felt the need to say, that this was the funnest chapter to write. I like the flashbacks and everything, and I am very grateful that you all are reading it! **

**And as for flamers, I don't care. **

**Every great authors have those who comment negatively on their work out of jealousy, right ;) Flamers are a compliment to my writing, it proves that I've done great!**

**Well, until next time~!**


	16. Open the Door

**Hello again!**

**I just thought I would let you know, while reading the comments I squealed like a fangirl. Yes, I did. They made my day. Completely. Reading them just ... made me so incredibly happy! Thank you very much!**

**And, yes, I will be using the idea that was given to me about the * astrithces! They will make life sooo much easier! So, whenever it has a * then refer to the bottom of the page whenever you feel to see what's up with that!**

**So, without further ado~ **

Open the Door:

He slammed the door behind him, not paying much attention to Leonard as he hauled the groceries up the stairs with strain. It was always a pain to shop for Sheldon, being that he was so picky about what he ate.

"Hey, Sheldon, where are you going?" He asked from over his bags as he used a free hand to fiddle in his jacket, searching for house keys.

"Penny's apartment" He answered briskly, stopping very close to the door.

Leonard shook his head. They had been a lot closer than normal lately, she was always hanging behind his rolling chair while he looked on online magazines for the answer to womankind.

_Knock Knock Knock _

"Penny"

_Knock Knock Knock _

"Penny"

_Knock Knock Knock _

"Penny, open up"

It sounded slightly like a plea, despite the fact that he was attempting so hard to be emotionless.

"Go away, Sheldon"

Her voice was cracking, her lip quivering slightly. She herself was trying to stifle back tears but was currently failing miserably at the attempt. Not everyone could be amazingly emotionless like Sheldon Cooper, who was attempting to compose himself at the moment.

"Penny, open the door"

"Go away"

"Penny"

"Sheldon"

"I can sit here all day and knock constantly. It's not as though I have prior engagements"

"Go away, Sheldon. I'm serious"

"I'm serious as well, Penny"

She didn't reply, signaling for him to leave. Of course, Sheldon Cooper had always been a persistent person. He wasn't going to give up just like that. That wasn't like him. So thus began the three knocks and her name, continuing constantly as though it were on loop.

"Go away, Sheldon!" She shot.

_Knock Knock Knock_

"Penny, open your door. It's been about ten minutes now"

He could hear her sniffling behind the door, trying avidly to wipe off the tears from her face.

"Don't cry, your eyes will puff up. And we all know how frequently tell us how you hate when your eyes puff off" He said, knocking three times and saying her name once more.

"Actually, nobody other than you knows that small fact about me, Sheldon!" She said frowning, leaning against the door and burying her face in her hands. The situation was worsening now. Sheldon knew that he had managed to strike the wrong cord, but he couldn't help it. He was observant and listened to things carefully, and on top of all of that he was really good at remembering things.

"Well, most people don't like it when their eyes puff up due to the fact that their vision starts to blur, so I can say it was a safe assumption" He was still trying to coax her with semi-correct truths.

"I treated you so horribly... inhuman, nearly. And after everything you had done!" Her shoulders started to shake as she held back her tears.

_Why am I crying? I shouldn't be crying. I was the one who treated him so horribly, if anything this situation should be the other way around. Why am I crying? Stupid. Stupid. Stop crying it's your fault anyways. Stupid, Stupid. _She thought, frowning.

"Human beings make mistakes, Penny, it's inevitable. I realize that you felt the pressure of being accepted in high school, I understand that it's something important to most adolescents. I've already forgiven you, I do think, though, that the challenge right now is forgiving yourself" He said rather awkwardly. Sheldon had never been a comforter, he had never cared too much for comforting others. But... the situation seemed to demand it so he was doing the best he could.

She shook her head to herself, her face now covered in full on tears. How could someone as self-centered as Sheldon be so, well, not self-centered. He had this knack of defying logic and sometimes it hurt her head.

"But human beings don't make these mistakes all the time"

"Of course they do. Yoda told Anakin Skywalker to never loose his anger and then, when he found out the Darth Vader was his father, he lost his anger and attacked his father without thinking"

Penny shook her head,

"Something that doesn't involve Star Wars _or _Star Trek, Sheldon" Penny replied.

He pursed his lips together,

"Well, people make mistakes and you know that"

"What about you? Do you make mistakes" She asked from behind the door as he starred at it, his back still stiff as a board.

"Of course no-" He stopped in his tracks. This wasn't the time nor place to be full of himself, he understood that much. Sighing, he change the course of his sentence, "I always make mistakes, be it in complicated or simple equations"

"What about human mistakes? Like, saying the wrong things or not saying anything" Penny asked, rubbing her nose.

He sighed. It shouldn't have come down to this, not at all,

"Of course I have"

"Like what?"

"Well, once I bought the wrong model train set and it was too late when I realized that the train was too big for the tracks-"

"I mean something serious"

"It was serious, I was devastated for an entire week"

She rolled her eyes,

"I'm not screwing around"

"Well I wasn't either, I was very dissapointed in the turn out of those events"

"Seriously, Sheldon"

He shook his head,

"I suppose, if you're wanting to hear my life regret, you're going to have to open the door and let me in"

Penny hesitated. Was it really worth it, letting him win for that piece of information? Her curiosity was already chewing at her mind. What could be the "Oh-So-Amazing" Sheldon Cooper's biggest regret? She wanted to know, really bad.

Slowly, she opened the door slightly and peered out the crack. Her eyes were red and puffy, as expected, and her cheeks slightly swollen from all the rubbing she was doing to dry off tears.

"I know I'm thin, Penny, but I'm not as thin as you think"

Penny sighed and opened the door all the way, letting him into her apartment. It was still the same, of course. What much could have changed over the course of about two hours? Unless somebody had taken the oppertunity to come in and ransack the apartment while she was across the hall, but that hadn't happened at all. It was just a plain old apartment with a plain old girl in it.

Of course, there was something about this average girl that made her not-so-average. One couldn't pinpoint what exactly it was, be it her spunky attitude or personality. It was just something one sensed, you could say.

"What's your biggest regret?" She asked again, starring up at him.

He looked down at her bleakly, that same deadpan look still on his face. He was never an emotional person, even in the most emotional of times. It was simply who he was, she accepted that though.

"Are you really this intent on wanting to know?"

"Yes!"

He sighed,

"Well I suppose I should hold up my end of the deal, seeing as I always expect people to hold up their end of the deal" He said with a sigh, still looking down at her.

Penny wouldn't look him in the eyes, though. Her eyes skimmed everywhere around him except landed nowhere near his face. She didn't want to risk the chance of starring him in the eyes, her guilt would only boil over even more.

"I suppose that the biggest regret that I have ever mentally housed is not reintroducing myself to you the day you moved across the hallway, and telling you who exactly I was and how I was related to your past"

Penny blinked, her eyes welling up with more tears after he said that. How was it that after all she put him through, he regretted not telling her they knew each other the third time in their life they had met.

Of course, he thought that she was a passing phase then. Just three stages he had to survive through. Never once had it occurred to him that the third time she came back into his life, she was there to stay. The other two times were just passing through, so statistically he shouldn't have expected anything less, and he didn't expect anything less either.

Rubbing her eyes, she stepped forward in a swift movement and wrapped her arms around his torso, not-so-elegantly shoving her face into his abdomen and burst out into not-so-cute tears with shaking shoulders,

"I can't understand you" She breathed unsteadily in between frequent hiccups, "I just can't understand you"

Sheldon's arms were outstretched at his sides in shock, it took him a few seconds to comprehend what had just happened. Of course, when he realized what had happened, his expression went into surprise and intense shock which faded down into just his normal expression again. On a normal basis, he didn't give his "Special Sheldon Cooper Hugs" out to just anyone. Again, of course, it wasn't a normal situation. A bit slowly, he wrapped his arms around her shoulders very awkwardly, due to the fact that he wasn't quite sure how to deal with it, and just silently held her. No words of comfort or false hopes whispered into her ear or anything, just held her.

That was the way she preferred and liked it.

And they stayed like that past the time she stopped crying, for as long as she needed it.


	17. A Date?

**Sorry it's been taking so long (well, long for me of course) to update. I had all these pretty cool ideas for crossovers I could do with my favorite anime and I had to do them! **

**Well, without further ado!~**

A date?:

After they had finally let go of each other it had, as expected, grown rather awkwardly silent between each other. Between her throwing herself at him and clinging to his torso and him awkwardly holding her, you couldn't blame it for being a rather still silent.

She starred up at him, rubbing her eyes and trying to wipe them from her eyes violently. Penny was slightly embarrassed, trying to wipe her eyes clean of the tears that had once been spilling out of her eyes.

"Are you dry?" He asked bleakly, looking down at her with a once-again emotionless face.

"Y-Yes" She had hiccuped slightly causing her to stumble slightly with her words.

"Good"

There was a thick silence in between them as she wiped her eyes vigorously on her sleeve, partially to wipe away tears that she missed but mostly so that she could avoid eye-contact with the man.

Penny pushed a hair out of her face, pushing it behind her ear and looking down at her own feet, suddenly interested in them.

As tempted as Sheldon was to break the silence, he let it sit stiffly over them for a while before rubbing the back of his head.

"So. . . When is your next date with Leonard?" He asked her, trying to break the silence.

Penny looked up at Sheldon, still not focusing on his eyes, and gave him the, "Are you seriously bringing this up right now?"

"Yes, why?" She answered him, blinking.

"Well, if you find it unsatisfactory, then you know where my office is and you can head there afterwards" He said before leaving out the door, letting her wallow in her own thoughts.

Did he just tell her to come to him if things with Leonard went bad?

Did he just ask her on a date?

Chapter Fin:

**I'm sorry that the chapter was so short, but I've been having writers block for this story :(**


	18. So that's the Girl

**Hey! Happy New Years! I have FINALLY kicked down that writers block wall and am ready to start up with this again! Without further ado!~**

So that's the girl:

Penny held back a huff as Leonard pressed a kiss to her cheek. It had been their sixth date. And counting. She couldn't help it that she kept telling him yes over and over and over again. He was really sweet! Honestly! Penny didn't want to break his heart by turning him down! But when a spark isn't there, it simply isn't there. She hadn't learned that concept yet. Rather, she was attempting to ignite a flame with a dead lighter.

Sighing, Penny looked over to the apartment door that lead into Leonard's apartment.

"Is Sheldon home?" She asked him, eyes scanning over the door.

"No. He's still at work. Why?" Leonard asked, rather confused with the sudden question.

"No reason" Penny replies with a relaxed tone in her voice.

"Alright . . ." Leonard replied unsteadily, "Goodnight, Penny"

"Goodnight, Leonard"

Penny closed the door, pressing her ear to the door to listen for Leonard to leave. He swayed there for a moment, as though he were contemplating something, but then scuffed to his apartment door. There was the sound of keys clicking before his apartment door was shut tight. Penny opened the door slightly, peeking out.

Leonard was in his room.

Maybe she would have to take Sheldon up on that offer on meeting up with him.

Her eyes slid over to her car keys that were sitting in their bowl on the cabinet (Sheldon insisted that she do this so that she could find her keys easier and it had actually decreased the amount of times she has lost her keys) Shoving her hand in the bowl, she picked up her keys.

Yes she would go and find Sheldon.

Penny pulled into the parking lot of the building, coming to a full stop and park before she pulled out the keys to the ignition. Cold air rushed past her as she opened the door to her car causing her to shudder slightly. Deciding it would be best to wear a jacket, she pulled her plain black jacket over her body, momentarily basking in the warmth before she headed inside.

"Ah- Do you know what room Sheldon Cooper is in?" Penny asked the woman sitting at the front desk, a headset over her head as she typed away at her computer. The woman was older, her hair graying at the bangs and wasn't the thinnest, but she was beautifully full figured. Her face was worn down from ages of hard work yet didn't have a frown line burdening her features. In fact, had it been possible, she would have lines on her face from smiling far too much in the face of adversity.

"Yes, dear!" The woman replied enthusiastically, "Why? You're a young woman, you should be out partying! Unless that oddball finally landed a girlfriend! You know, you're really pretty!" She laughed. This woman seemed like a very comforting, motherly, person. Penny immediately felt the stress of her thoughts wear away from her by walking into the atmosphere that this older lady had created.

Penny laughed, not bothered by this statement at all,

"No, he's just a friend. I'm only here to visit him!" Penny smiled at her, folding her hands in front of her stomach, "Can you tell me what room he's in?"

"Well, he just went to the cafeteria!" The woman said.

"Do you know Sheldon well?" Penny asked.

"We talk a lot, actually! Why?"

"Why is he here so late? He usually returns home by five. It's already eight!"

The woman gave her a small smile,

"Do you live together?"

"No, I live across the hall from him in an apartment complex"

The woman still smiled at her,

"He mumbled something about thinking about things and the past and such as he walked by. If you're so curious then why don't you go find him and ask him what he's been thinking?" The receptionist said, still smiling.

Penny gave her a smile,

"Could you tell me where the cafeteria is? I've only been here a few times" Penny said, rubbing the back of her head as she looked around the rather desolate front desk, "And I get the feeling that there's not really anyone else here who can give me directions, with most people going home when their time to go is here"

"Ah! Yes! Just down that hall" The woman pointed to the hall on her left, "And there's opened double doors straight down the hallway that will lead you into the hallway!"

Penny smiled and pushed a strand of hair behind her ear,

"Thank you!"

"No problem dear!"

Penny started to head off down the hallway, her footsteps echoing down the empty hallway as she went to find her friend.

"Ah" The woman said to herself as she leaned over and picked up a pencil, hovering over a writing pad, "That's the girl he's been telling me about"


	19. A Game of Chess

A game of chess:

Penny pushed her way through the double-doors of the cafeteria, the brush of wind that broke through her hair feeling rather relieving as she stood in the doorway. He blinked when he heard the girl enter the room, turning his head to look at her.

"What are you doing here?"

"I came to visit you. You didn't come back home at the time that you usually do and normally you're very picky about that. Are you okay?" Penny asked.

"Yes I am fine" Sheldon replied.

In front of him was set out a black and white chess board. Facing Sheldon was the black pieces, which were his if you were to assume so, and the pieces that were on the opposite side of him were white pieces.

"What are you doing?"

"I am sitting here and pondering over this game of chess that Leonard and I play during lunch. It's been a rather long lasting game, as you can tell"

Pieces were scattered across the board, and capturing any piece seemed completely impossible. As though they had come to a standstill in their game. People usually crowded around them when they played against each other at lunch, and during the game they seemed to grow intensely serious.

Penny sat down where Leonard would sit across from Sheldon, not daring to touch the pieces in fear that she would completely mess up the game and they would have to restart.

"What is the point of the game?" Penny asked a bit innocently.

"To capture the King" Sheldon answered bluntly.

Lined up on Leonard's side was an assortment of pawns, a bishop, a knight and a rook. Lined up on Sheldon's side was an assortment of Leonard's pieces that consisted of several pawns, two knights and a rook.

"Oh, so you want to take the king?" Penny asked.

"I want to do no such thing" Sheldon answered bleakly.

"But the point of the game is to capture the king" Penny said.

"But that's not what I want to do"

Confusion and bafflement crossed over Penny's face as she starred at Sheldon with no understanding whatsoever. It didn't make sense. Why would he not want to capture the king and win?

"My object," Sheldon began, breaking her from her thoughts, "Is to capture the king. But what I really need to do, is take the queen" He said as he leaned forward on his elbows, starring at the pieces.

"Why would you want to do that? It's just a queen . . ."

"Just a queen? Are you stupid? The queen is the most powerful piece on the board, every move she makes effects every single piece on the board. Though, I believe that every piece is obligated to protect her. After all, if she is knocked off of the playing field then it could ultimately end with the demise of the king that she is playing for. I would be horrified to think about what would happen if I lost the queen of the board. What if all my other followers are captured? I would hope she would be there to back me up" Sheldon explained, resting his chin on his hand and starring at her a bit lazily.

"I see . . ." Penny said as she rubbed her forehead together, "It seems like a pretty intense game"

"Leonard and I always play intense games of chess. It's been that way since high school" Sheldon replied lazily.

"High school? You went to the same high school?"

"Oh heavens no" Sheldon replied, "Though we both went to the same chess meet. You know" He coughed slightly, "The one that was held at your school"

Penny's face faltered a bit at the memory, face paling as she remembered that mistake she made all those years ago. The memory wasn't fond for either of them, that much was very clear.

"So all three of us were there on that day?" Penny asked.

"Yes"

**_Flashback _**

_Sheldon starred at the full chessboard laid out in front of him, a seemingly distressed look on his face as he recalled what had recently happened in the past. Sighing, he shook off any emotion or distress that he had felt and focused on the board in front of him, waiting for the next person to sit in front of him. The next person was the last person he had to beat to win the entire tournament in the state of Nevada. _

_"Hello" a male voice said, seeming rather happy._

_Sheldon's eyes scanned up to him and locked eyes with a rather short, black-haired, boy who was sporting a pair of rectangular glasses. Sheldon blinked as the boy held his hand out for a handshake._

_"I'm Leonard! What's your name?"_

_"I am Sheldon" Sheldon answered with no emotion._

_The teen gave him a big smile,_

_"I know we're facing off and everything, but I really wish you the best of luck!" The teenage boy with the name of Leonard smiled, pulling out the chair and sitting down in it. Leonard was being completely genuine, as he wished the best of luck to Sheldon._

_Sheldon managed a small smile before they began._

_Leonard's good luck wish was like a charm, because he won._

**_Flashback End_ **

Sheldon looked over to Penny,

"What are you thinking about?" Penny asked him.

"Just something. Did you know that Leonard has been the only person to best me in chess, even though the times he does are very few? Despite that, this is one of the closest games I've ever played. For once I am not sure who will come out on top" Sheldon said, rubbing his chin in thought, "I have the feeling, though, that this game is the most important that we have ever played. If I loose, it feels as though I will loose everything"

Penny gave him a confused look as she listened to him,

"Aren't you overreacting? It's just a game"

Sheldon's eyes flicked over to her, the barely visible traces of a smirk coming onto his lips,

"It's always been more than a game for Leonard and I, Penny. It's been more or less of a battle. But I don't expect someone as simple-minded as you to understand what I mean"

"What the hell is wrong with you Sheldon?" Penny snapped, not taking the insult very well at all.

What was wrong with this man? He had her on the edge of her seat and then insulted her? She couldn't understand this man, he was certainly different from others that she had met.

Sheldon merely shook his head, standing up from his seat and looking down at the female with something sparking in his eyes slightly,

"Lets get going, Penny. It's getting late and I have work tomorrow"

"Whatever" Penny huffed, standing up next to the considerably taller man.

Sheldon began to walk, Penny following at her side in silence. When they had gotten to the receptionist area, the woman was gone. Her desk was tidied up and neat, as she had gone home to her husband for the night.

Nearing the glass doors, Sheldon looked down at her as he placed a hand on the glass door that was frosted with the chill of the night.

"I have no intention of loosing this game that Leonard has started with me Penny, I believe you should know that"

"You don't like to loose any game, Sheldon" Penny huffed as she opened the door, letting the wind brush against her face as she crinkled her nose at the bitter cold of the dark night.

"You're correct there, Penny" He said with the slight features of a smile on his face, "Though I don't think you understand my analogy"

Penny raised an eyebrow at her friend who seemed to be amused, not understanding what he meant by that. His eyes twinkled a bit uncharacteristically as he starred at her, holding the door open for her.

"Huh?"

"I wouldn't expect you to understand, Penny" Sheldon said with a sigh and the shake of a head, "Will you drive me home? Leonard left me because I refused to come with him"

Penny gave an agitated sigh,

"Sure, whatever Sheldon"

~  
Chapter Fin


	20. Another Author's Note

**Another Author's Note:**

**Readers,**

**I am so sorry about how out of character Sheldon seemed to be in the last chapter T.T I've been contemplating whether or not to redo that chapter. It's just that I've been so agitated with trying to get chapters up on other stories too (I use Quotev as well). Needless to say, I've bit off a bit more than I can chew. But that's because I'm compulsive and want to get my ideas up when I have them. Usually my emotion shows through my writing, so it's becoming clear that I myself am becoming high-strung. **

**It's that I am trying to get some other chapters up as well as balance Orchestra, Soccer and Writing UIL. So I am going to take a small break so that I can loosen up and become less high-strung.**

**I am sorry v.v I will attempt to put up a chapter as soon as I find a day where I don't feel like the entire weight of the world is on my shoulders! **

**~Cookey Monster **


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